I bought this truck last month running. fired up several times and ran great. it sat for a few weeks exposed to a couple severe rain/wind storms (everything under dash and hood was wet) and now it just cranks until battery has no charge. Squirted starter fluid in plenum, cleaned out distributor still nothing. It also seems to be leaking into the cab quite a bit. Is there anything behind the dash that could get wet causing it not to run? I had planned on digging into this once the weather warms up, but until them it would be nice to move it under it's own power again. Any ideas?

 

Oh, man. Just about everything.

There's JB-1 (the fuse box by your left knee), the ignition switch and associated wiring, and most of all the ECM (by your passenger's right knee). Water and electrons just don't mix.

My guess is you're getting no spark. Once you get the cab dried out, start with putting the inductive pickup of your timing light on each plug wire. If you have no spark, you're going to have to work backwards with a multimeter through the entire electrical system.

Obviously, your truck has a serious issue. You should be able to drive through a torrential downpour at 70mph without a drop in the cab. Unless you plan to keep it garaged and out of the rain for the rest of its life, you'll need to find all the leaks.

And don't "crank until the battery has no charge." If it didn't start with the first two or three attempts, grinding it until both the starter and the battery are trashed isn't going to help.