Dead Battery?

CasualButJiggy · May 19, 2011

Truck has been fine all week, drove it all day. Stopped and started probably 4 times. Got home and shut it off, went out 15 mins later to go to the store. Turned the key, seemed normal like it was about to start right up, then everything shut off and the Check Engine light flashed a few times, now nothing. No clicking no lights. I disconnected the negative terminal and reconnected, still nothing.

Wont be able to try jumping it until my wife gets home with the other car.

Any ideas?

nickvrebel · May 19, 2011

put a meter or a test light to the battery and see what you have, check all fuses, maybe you blew one?

CasualButJiggy · May 19, 2011

Something really weird going on. Connected the jumpers, turned the key and got crazy clicking electrical sounds, not the dead battery clicking sounds, painful "I don't know if I should turn the key again" sounds. Volts went right up to 14. Turned it a couple more times and it started right up.

No check engine light, though. Not sure what to do.

Wires · May 20, 2011

Something really weird going on. Connected the jumpers, turned the key and got crazy clicking electrical sounds, not the dead battery clicking sounds, painful "I don't know if I should turn the key again" sounds. Volts went right up to 14. Turned it a couple more times and it started right up.

No check engine light, though. Not sure what to do.

There was a TSB for a loose ground cable off the battery or something. I had issues with my 08, and it turned out it was the POS battery (even though the dealership said it was fine)....

700 sportsman · May 20, 2011

There have been many mystery issues with the results you're facing. My dad's truck is one of the affected. Once when it happened, I touched the ground cable, and it "came back to life" so we decided to check wire brush, and apply di-electric grease to all the ground points on the harness near the battery. This "solved" the problem for a week or so then it occured again, and then we cut off the terminal ring and soldered in a replacement.Some people have had their entire ground harness replaced under warranty and have had no troubles.

Another problem has been with the mega fuse mounted on the firewall, the connection has been known to arc and corrode to the point it works only sporradically. These also have been replaced by the dealer, or cleaned up by the owner. Also as mentioned above the batteries have also been known to be the culprit, when the plates inside the battery come apart.

You could be facing any number of these issues, IMO I would take it into the dealer since you're probably still under warranty. My dad's truck was fine for at least 6 months after soldering on the new end, but over the last week or so it has started acting up and resetting the clock again.

I'll try to report back on our next attempt to fix it.