HELP!!!

[elk_hunter]

just went to go out for supper.

 

Turn the key, all lights went out in cad/dash. Checked the battery it's fine.

every 20/30 sec hear a click sound under the dash.

 

could this be a bad ignition switch?

 

no clue!!!

[mcreyaufmiller]

year, and model?

[elk_hunter]

1999 GMC Sierra sl 4.8 ext cab.

 

Turn key, all light on for a sec, go right off, hearing clicking in cab under dash..

[elk_hunter]

now is doing nothing!!!! excet for the click...

 

everyone once in a while hear the ding, battery still good.

[mcreyaufmiller]

First thing I would check is the battery connections, there are 2 lugs going to the battery, very often corrosion builds up between the lugs. Take them apart and clean out the corrosion with baking soda and water mix, you can use a tooth brush to help. after they are clean, cover them with dielectric grease, and reassemble them. Make sure the bolt is tight, but be careful, if you try to tighten it too much, it could strip out.

[Shaners]

If it is the original battery, then check for cracks around the side posts.

 

Also check at the starter plus the starter wire...

[elk_hunter]

well check my battery was 12volts....when it first happened. then the click took it down to 4/5 volts....hooked my charge on it, now the lights work just as they should, still wont start(not enough juice).

 

no sure what caused the first problem.....then the relay clicking(im' guessing that was it was) drained the battery.

 

and the battery is new, only a month old or so...

 

 

any ideas?

[71GMC_3/4T]

Possibilities are pretty much endless, but here's a short list:

 

* You got a bad battery - it happens! Maybe they forgot to put water in it? Been there, seen that.

 

* Your cables or connections are dirty. Clean them w/ baking soda and water.

 

* You've got a bad connection other than at the battery. Check at the starter and chassis ground, and engine ground. If in doubt, loosen the bolt/nut, wiggle, and retighten.

 

* You have something that is slowly discharging your battery. Check the glove box light, underhood light, and brake light.

 

* You have a bad alternator. Hold a screwdriver to the back of the alternator nearly touching the center portion right where the rear bearing is, while it's running. If it's charging, it will attract the screwdriver magnetically; if not, it won't. BE CAREFUL not to short out the +12V from the alternator, or you will see sparks and probably need a new alternator shortly after that!

 

Good Luck!

 

By the way, if you have access to a voltmeter (apparently you do), you should be able to check your alternator while it's running. It should go to 13.5 to 14.0 volts when it's running, but you may have to go to high idle to see the full voltage. When you shut it off, it should stay around 12.5 or more if it has a charge. 12.0V is dead but all the cells are still happy. 4 or 5 volts means you had several cells shut down completely.

* Next time try turning on other lights, like the headlamps. They draw more current and might help you determine what's wrong.

[Guest chevydeerhunter]

Possibilities are pretty much endless, but here's a short list:

 

* You got a bad battery - it happens!  Maybe they forgot to put water in it?  Been there, seen that.

 

* Your cables or connections are dirty.  Clean them w/ baking soda and water.

 

* You've got a bad connection other than at the battery.  Check at the starter and chassis ground, and engine ground.  If in doubt, loosen the bolt/nut, wiggle, and retighten.

 

* You have something that is slowly discharging your battery.  Check the glove box light, underhood light, and brake light.

 

* You have a bad alternator.  Hold a screwdriver to the back of the alternator nearly touching the center portion right where the rear bearing is, while it's running.  If it's charging, it will attract the screwdriver magnetically; if not, it won't.  BE CAREFUL not to short out the +12V from the alternator, or you will see sparks and probably need a new alternator shortly after that!

 

Good Luck!

 

By the way, if you have access to a voltmeter (apparently you do), you should be able to check your alternator while it's running.  It should go to 13.5 to 14.0 volts when it's running, but you may have to go to high idle to see the full voltage.  When you shut it off, it should stay around 12.5 or more if it has a charge.  12.0V is dead but all the cells are still happy.  4 or 5 volts means you had several cells shut down completely.

* Next time try turning on other lights, like the headlamps.  They draw more current and might help you determine what's wrong.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

 

These are great tips. After two years, I decided that instead of being stranded because of the factory battery dying, I got the jump and bought an Interstate battery. The clerk told me that he's seen more than enough GM batteries that leaked, or didn't have any water in them and any number of problems with them to write a book about.

[elk_hunter]

UPDATE

 

well used other car to jump the truck( had ot have the car rev pretty good for it to start),

 

now it is running, volts on cluster is just at or past the 14, turn on lights,turn signal, it is bouncing.

 

Decided to take a short drive.

 

all dash lights started to come on then off, tach,speedo,gas, batter would go all the way down, then back up, then back down, etc....lights stayed on fine.

[mudbug660]

UPDATE

 

well used other car to jump the truck( had ot have the car rev pretty good for it to start),

 

now it is running,  volts on cluster is just at or past the 14,  turn on lights,turn signal, it is bouncing.

 

Decided to take a short drive.

 

  all dash lights started to come on then off,  tach,speedo,gas, batter would go all the way down, then back up, then back down, etc....lights stayed on fine.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

it sounds like there is a bad connection. get somebody to mess with the batery cables coming out of the battery when you try to start it (try to put a bind on the clamps). Also check the volt directly from the batter not from the cables coming out of it. Hope this will help. It's got to between the battery and the solinoid. If the solinoid doesn't have enough volts then it will start clicking. Happens to my truck and my 4-wheeler sometimes.

[71GMC_3/4T]

Sounds like you lost a ground to the chassis, but not the engine block.

 

Lost ground to the engine block - wouldn't start. (But check it just in case, sometimes they go resistive under light current draw).

 

Lost ground to the chassis - all kinds of weird stuff, like overcharging, undercharging, intermittants, odd light behavior, etc.

 

Check anywhere you find a bunch of ring terminals tied to the chassis or frame, even up under the dash. Loosen, wiggle, and tighten each one and you should eventually find what's causing it. A bad (or intermittant) ground will cause all kinds of odd things to happen, much like you're seeing. A broken wire will cause only one thing to fail usually.

 

Your best friend is your voltmeter. Check from a good, known, true ground (hint: use the battery (-) terminal) as your reference point, tied to the black lead. If you touch anything that *should* be ground (with your red lead), and it reads voltage other than 0, or, say more than one volt, you've found your problem. Keep in mind, you have to do this under a load to see the voltage drop causing the failure.

 

Good Luck, and let us know when you've found it!

[elk_hunter]

okay, this is weird.

 

check the battery again, was ready 2/3 volts. decide to take out and take it back to the store for exchange before they close. Checked the battery once out, and darn it, was ready 12.95 - 13 volts?

 

put the battery back in(this is really starting to suck big time), hooked up the leads, light under hood came on. Went into the truck turned the key, all dash lights came on, started right up. checked the alt was ready around 14.

 

no idea on what happend here beside either the hot/negative terminal somehow was loose i guess? ran fine this morning now problems.

 

but still cant figure out why, there was that clicking sound inside the cab, around the brake when just had the key on acc or just in the lock(not turne anyway), once i moved it to the run/start position it went away??????

 

very weird......

 

thanks for all the helps guys!!!

[71GMC_3/4T]

You had a bad connection on one or the other post of the battery. It was resistive, meaning it would flow some current but not enough to make it happy. That's why it was clicking. Not sure what the click was, probably a relay, but could be just about anything I suppose.

 

Glad you found it! You should keep an eye on those connections and maybe clean them this summer while it's warm out so you don't go through this same BS again next winter...

[asilverblazer]

If the battery is dead you will hear all kinds of relays and clicking etc, and the lights can do really funny stuff, along with the chimes. i would have put my money on the battery/connections.