Need Some Help With My Sister's '98 2500.

CheeseSlap · February 4, 2011

Working on my sister's '98 2500 4x4 5.7. It had been my late brother-in-law's truck. He passed on suddenly on 7/3. My sister isn't ready to part with it yet, so I'm going to try and help her out. Not having much GM experience, I'll likely need some advice.

It seems to be an odd electrical issue. His truck will sometimes start up normally, as if nothing were wrong. Other times, nothing. Zip. No lights, no starter solenoid clicks, no bells, no trouble codes. Turn the key and...<crickets>. It will occasionally stumble and quit once warm, but rarely. It may or may not start up again right away. Battery checks out fine per NAPA. Keep in mind, the truck is located in Fairbanks, AK, so it does get cold this time of year, however, it has battery, block, oil pan and trans pan heaters. Not sure if that has anything to do with it or not.

We really appreciate any help you guys can offer.

Tim

ChevyTech77 · February 4, 2011

Poor battery cable connections or there is an issue with the cable themselves.

sierrahi · February 4, 2011

Poor battery cable connections or there is an issue with the cable themselves.

+ 1

It's common to have that issue where the cables are "stacked".

CheeseSlap · February 8, 2011

Poor battery cable connections or there is an issue with the cable themselves.

+ 1

It's common to have that issue where the cables are "stacked".

Do you mean the situation where people like to connect several things to the battery terminal? I'm not exactly sure how he wired up the various heaters. I believe he also has a battery tender wired up in there somewhere. That one may be directly attached to the battery.