Jlrose24

My 94 3vze still randomly shuts down on me. It's a total electrical failure. I replaced the battery terminals on the cables and made sure it was clean and tight. But when I drive sometimes the radio cuts out or my whole engine shuts down and leaves me stranded. I think it may be the alternator or the distributor. Sometime it will fire back up right away other times I need a jump. Could it be my battery? Maybe it has a bad cell or something. Please help this is my daily driver and I'm out a vehicle right now.

rattlewagon

Did you test the battery or alternator? Are fuses popping or is it just dying? Dash lights come on when it wont start? When its dead and you jump it, can you start it right away or do you need to let your battery charge back up a bit?

Jlrose24

Fuses aren't popping and when it dies nothing works not even the hazard lights. And I haven't been able to test anything. I want to take the battery and alternator to oriellys to have them test them. It's just confusing because sometimes it shuts down while running and starts itself back up and runs like nothing happened.

bass 1

I had a similar problem. Might be worth checking your grounds.

My 3vze would randomly shut off under light electrical loads. It would fire right up, but as you step on the brake (or flip on headlights, or turn on blower motor) the motor would stall. I replaced the ground wire with a new one. The new one tied into the block and 2 point on the body.
That worked great for a week or so, but then it happened to me again... this time I believe it was the positive battery cable (lots of corrosion). I cleaned the terminals and replaced the positive clamp and the issues seems resolved again.
I suspected the battery and alternator first, but had them checked out at Autozone to be OK... and actually in quite good shape.

For extra measure, I added yet another ground strap from the intake manifold to the firewall.

Jlrose24

I've tried finding the grounds by chasing the wires and haven't had any luck locating any specific ground. The issue is so hit or miss that I don't really know where to start.

bass 1

Ill take some pictures when I get home from work.
The 3 I've found so far:
-Battery neg to body (This was my original weak point the wires were frayed and falling apart)
-Battery neg to Block (~4 gauge wire)
-Engine Head to Firewall

I suspect there should be a body to frame ground somewhere but have yet to see one...

Jlrose24

That's where I was looking on the frame not the engine for the grounds

scope103

Get a multimeter (just no excuse not to have one http://www.harborfreight.com/7-funct...ter-98025.html).

Put it on your battery, not running. You should get something around 12.6v. Start it up; you should get about 14.1v (the alternator is holding the battery's charge up)

Now carry it with you. The next time your truck dies, check the battery, then pop the top of the under-hood fuse box and check both sides of each fuse (each should have the same voltage as the battery.

It's not likely to be a bad battery or bad alternator. Bad batteries just get weaker and weaker; they don't quit all at once and then get better a few minutes later. The alternator just charges the battery; if it were bad the battery would run down to where it WOULD light the panel lights but WOULDN'T have enough to turn the starter. And it wouldn't suddenly get better.

So you almost certainly have a loose wire/connector/fuse somewhere that is jiggling open (killing the truck), and after sitting a few seconds jiggles closed. Your multimeter can narrow that down.

You might even try starting the truck and CAREFULLY jiggling the wires near the fuse panel (the loose connection could be just about anywhere, but given how much it takes out I'm guessing closer to the fusebox.)

Jlrose24

Does anyone have a diagram for me to use to find the grounds?

coloyota1023

I had a similar problem with my 92'. I would be driving and then pull into a parking lot, shut off my truck, go into the store, then a few minutes later come back and it wouldn't crank. I would wait a couple minutes and sometimes it would work. The last time it happened it left me stranded 30 miles from my house...I towed it home and was researching where to look. My EFI fuse, in under good fuse box, would only make contact after a while...loose wire :/ fixed the connector, and have never had a problem since.