I just recently put a brand new starter on a 1998 Chevy Cavalier I am supposed to be purchasing, I also put a good working battery in it as well. Here is my problem = Once I put the starter on battery in and got it all hooked up I cranked it over and it stayed started for about 7-10 seconds or so....ok great right!. Not so much, I then shut it off took the battery out to transport it into another car so I could start the other car and get it out of the driveway to move the Cavalier to my residence. I then proceeded to re hook the battery up in the Cavalier tried turning it over twice it acted like it wanted to start both times.....I then tried a third time and it did crank over...but as soon as I took the parking break off and tried to put it into drive it dies completely. The Cavalier will not even turn on let alone try to crank over...I get no dash lights, interior lights period! I've tested all the fuses checked all my connections to and from the starter and the battery and everything is in place. I am at a complete loss, if anyone out there has ever experienced this situation before and has any input at all I would very much appreciate the help.

P.S. Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

Welcome to the forum...
How old is the battery? if its more then a couple of years old I would be suspicious of it, even thou it just worked, being jostled around could have been enough to do it in, I would suggest having it load tested, it may show 12volts but it may not have any ability to push current... a load test will answer that.
The other thing to check is for a fuseable link or mega fuse on the firewall or somewhere in the main positive battery cable before it gets to the main fuse box or panel...

 

I would look towards the alternator. The car may have started with the good battery and ran for a while but drained the batterie. When you used it in the other car it may not have had time to recharge fully causing it to become even weaker. The when you hooked it back to the other car it may have bit had even a remote possibility to turn over due to it being so weak and no lights would equal a loss of power.