Not turning over

[99yukon350]

Ok as I started to mention in one of my other posts, my truck was shutting off randomly. I would go to start it back up, nothing, no gauges lights, or a click. The other night I noticed the volt meter went down halfway between 9and 14 so I shut off the blower and radio and continued driving for 10 minutes and it did not move. The next morning I went out to start it up and it wouldn’t turn over. I had my gauges lights and all of that. I put it on the charger still but it only made my lights brighter. Today I go out to work on it and I open the door and hit unlock to unlock all of the doors and everything electrical was spazing out. The battery was pretty much dead as the buzzer when you have the key in the ignition and the door open sounded light a dial up modem and all the lights were blinking real dim. So I took the battery out saw that the positive side was corroded. I cleaned it and hooked it back up and put the jumper cables to my car and it still didn’t work. I noticed the volt meter on the truck when it was hooked up never moved from between 9 and 14. I assume I have a drain somewhere. I brought the battery in and it was good. Where should I start looking? I cleaned the ground on the block best I could. The cable on the starter looked clean. Also, does it matter which positive cable touches the battery 1st? The way it is on mine right now is the one that is 1st goes to the fuse box and the 2nd one goes to the starter. It is pouring out right now and the truck is outside so I can't do anything right now. But the rain is suppose to turn over to crap then snow tonight. I'm not looking forward to driving a rwd 80's car in the snow.

[bossier62guy]

I'd be looking for a corroded postive battery cable....already changed one on a friends tahoe for the same type conditions. Wiggle the positie cable w/ it attached to the battery the next time you have problems and see if it comes to life. You might also have a similiar problem on the ground side.

[Rolandd]

Hmmm... You write above that the truck died while running, which makes me think that you may have multiple issues here. Once running, the alternator should put out enough juice to keep everything running.

 

You need to confirm that the battery itself is in good condition and that the cables are clean and in good condition where the metal end meets the battery, block, or starter, and where the copper wire meeds the metal end of the cable. If all of this checks out and you still have a no-crank situation you may need to start making checks of the ignition switch and any fusable links, relays, fuses, and circuit breakers that would be involved between the battery and the starter. You will need a lot of patience and to be very systematic to debug this issue, but it is possible to find it. You really want to find an issue and resolve it rather that just messing around until it works otherwise you will never know if you fixed a problem or just got lucky--this time....

[kdm101]

I agree with the battery cable. Mine did that one night on me. Seemed to start fine, then pulled into the driveway. 2 minutes later it went dead. Trying to put the charger on just made the electronics go completely berzerk.

 

After a new battery and repair of the positive cable (I have not replaced it yet), I was back in business.

[ShakinLM7]

I had similar symptoms with my truck about a year ago. I would go to start it and it wouldn't do squat! the lights and everything would work fine, than go dead when I tried to crank it. I'd put my portable jumper on the top posts of the battery and it wouldn't help, but if I put it on the side terminals it would start right up! I had the battery tested at auto zone and they said it was fine. After visualy inspecting all the wiring and not finding anything that looked odd I decided to buy a battery in hopes of fixing the problem. I went to loosen the positive terminal and the whole thing came right out of the battery lol! For some reason my gages acted up on me too didn't make much since......

[99yukon350]

I took the battery, that was fine. The wires were clean but I still spent a long time cleaning each connection on the battery, starter, engine block, and the postive into the fuse box. I tested the wires every way I could think of and they were fine. I put my volt meter ground on to the engince block and postive onto the starter and it read 12. It read 12 at the fuse box. Every other way I tested read 12. It kind of sucks when I go out there to work on after it wouldnt start and it starts right up before I do anything. Today it wouldnt crank at 1st but I kept turning the key back and about the 6th time it fired up and the volt meter was on 14. This is reminds me of the forklifts I have at work, they do the same thing and it has always been the same issue, the key switch.

 

When the truck died while it was running, the volt meter had been reading normal. But it started back up after doing I think tighting the battery cable. My dad had the truck that day and I believe that is all he did.

 

Should I bring the starter in and have it tested? Or would you lean more towards the ignition switch. How do I check the ignition switch?