No crank/low power issue
08-20-2015, 03:25 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
No crank/low power issue
Hi all, I'm new to the forum, and decent with cars but not too technical, so bear with me please.
I am having a strange electrical problem with my truck. It's an '85 Pickup 22r base, 2wd. A little background to start: I've owned the truck for about 1.5 years, and every few months, usually during the winter (wet, I live in Seattle) my truck would exhibit the following symptoms: first, it would not crank, or barely crank, then the power would seemingly die, as through I had a dead battery. However, if I put the keys back in after a few minutes, sometimes it would make the "door open" beep (sometimes fading), and about 2/3 of the time the dash lights would light up, but only dimly (except Charge, which is always bright). The headlights and blower fan work, no lights in the rear, blinkers only work in "hazard" mode, and the dome light is dim or off.
The way I normally solved this problem is by moving around the cable connections on the battery, and after enough messing everything would work. There was definitely corrosion on the battery, and I even cleaned the posts and cables with a brush to expose fresh metal.
Also, jumping the car would always work.
This time, I came back from a vacation and had left my car parked at my girlfriend's house for three weeks (in a wooded area, so rodents may be the problem). When I got in to fire up the truck, it did the above described things. Thinking it's the usual, I messed with the battery connections, with no success. Then I tried roll starting, but couldn't get enough hill to get a decent roll. So my girlfriend got her car and we tried to jump it. Nothing. We tried a number of times, checking the connections, cleaning the posts, getting new cables for both the negative and positive. Still nothing. The strange thing is that some of the times we hooked it up the battery we got the radio working, and the car was behaving like everything was normal. After waiting for a few minutes I tried the starter, and everything went dim again and went back to the way it was. So we decided to try a new battery. Same symptoms, so I'm ruling out a bad battery.
I've checked the ground on the negative wire, the other ground by the fuse box in the engine compartment, and the ground on the driver's side by the fuse box in the cab. All of them seem fine, no corrosion. I guess I have a damaged or frayed wire, but can't narrow where it might be. I have noticed that if I put the key in the ignition, the dome light will become dimmer when the "open door" signal is buzzing. Turning the key to any other setting makes the dome light go off, as well as shifting into reverse (which doesn't light up the backup lights). The starter did click a few times, but no longer. I just went out to see if I forgot anything, and noticed that there is no beeping or dashboard lights anymore except Charge, and the dome light doesn't come on anymore either. Those all seem to behave together.
It feels like there's just not enough power flowing for the system, but it also seems very inconsistent. Any ideas would be greatly welcome!
I am having a strange electrical problem with my truck. It's an '85 Pickup 22r base, 2wd. A little background to start: I've owned the truck for about 1.5 years, and every few months, usually during the winter (wet, I live in Seattle) my truck would exhibit the following symptoms: first, it would not crank, or barely crank, then the power would seemingly die, as through I had a dead battery. However, if I put the keys back in after a few minutes, sometimes it would make the "door open" beep (sometimes fading), and about 2/3 of the time the dash lights would light up, but only dimly (except Charge, which is always bright). The headlights and blower fan work, no lights in the rear, blinkers only work in "hazard" mode, and the dome light is dim or off.
The way I normally solved this problem is by moving around the cable connections on the battery, and after enough messing everything would work. There was definitely corrosion on the battery, and I even cleaned the posts and cables with a brush to expose fresh metal.
Also, jumping the car would always work.
This time, I came back from a vacation and had left my car parked at my girlfriend's house for three weeks (in a wooded area, so rodents may be the problem). When I got in to fire up the truck, it did the above described things. Thinking it's the usual, I messed with the battery connections, with no success. Then I tried roll starting, but couldn't get enough hill to get a decent roll. So my girlfriend got her car and we tried to jump it. Nothing. We tried a number of times, checking the connections, cleaning the posts, getting new cables for both the negative and positive. Still nothing. The strange thing is that some of the times we hooked it up the battery we got the radio working, and the car was behaving like everything was normal. After waiting for a few minutes I tried the starter, and everything went dim again and went back to the way it was. So we decided to try a new battery. Same symptoms, so I'm ruling out a bad battery.
I've checked the ground on the negative wire, the other ground by the fuse box in the engine compartment, and the ground on the driver's side by the fuse box in the cab. All of them seem fine, no corrosion. I guess I have a damaged or frayed wire, but can't narrow where it might be. I have noticed that if I put the key in the ignition, the dome light will become dimmer when the "open door" signal is buzzing. Turning the key to any other setting makes the dome light go off, as well as shifting into reverse (which doesn't light up the backup lights). The starter did click a few times, but no longer. I just went out to see if I forgot anything, and noticed that there is no beeping or dashboard lights anymore except Charge, and the dome light doesn't come on anymore either. Those all seem to behave together.
It feels like there's just not enough power flowing for the system, but it also seems very inconsistent. Any ideas would be greatly welcome!
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
