Over the summer I was having problems w/ my truck starting b/c of a dead battery. I replaced the alternator w/ a remaned one and that seemed to fix the problem for a while. About a month ago it was happening again and eventually the year and a half old redtop wouldn't take a charge at all. I replaced it with the only thing available at the repair shop next door to me, which was an Interstate battery.

Two days ago, after just travelling 140 miles, I stopped at a store and when I came back out the truck wouldn't start. I had to jump start it. What could be the problem? The battery should have been fully charged after that long trip. Any help would be appreciated as I've already felt the wrath of my boss a month ago when I missed work b/c of the dead battery.

 

Simple test is to see what sort of voltage is present across the battery while the engine is running:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead-acid_battery

 

around 14.5 vdc with the engine running. you could take alt and batt to a.z. etc. to get tested. check your battery cables for corrosion inside the insulation. or you might even have a starter prob.

 

I know it's not the starter b/c everything electrical dies. I started it up twice today after charging all night and everything was perfect. The third time, no juice at all. No power door locks, no dome light, etc. I'm going to try the suggestions above and report back.

 

Whenever everything goes dead does the battery still show voltage? It could be a bad ignition switch if this is the case. Otherwise I would say you have bad connections somewhere that are allowing it to start fine but on occasion lose connection. This could be at the battery or at any of the ground wire locations. With everything going off (even the dome light which should come on even if the battery is near dead) it sounds like a faulty ignition switch. Nothing I know of would drain the battery in the time it took you to go in the store and come back. Good luck with it.

Thomas

 

bad ground sounds like to me from ur battery

 

I am leaning towards same diagnosis- a bad cable from the battery to the ground or the positive cable itself.

Next time it does not start get another person. Have them do the ignition key turn while you wiggle one battery cable at a time. A cable can look just fine but need recrimped or replaced.

 

i had a cable go bad due to corrosion inside the insulation

 

I bet 5 doughnuts that is the problem!!!! Replace all the cables, ground and power and I'll bet you fix it. If not, they probably needed replacing anyway if you never had before.

 

I have the same problem. I can be driving my truck all day and then turn it off at the gas station etc. and then go to crank it and there is nothing at all. The buzzer will beep because the door is open and my seatbelt is off, but thats it. I don't have power anything, i.e. no dome light no radio no power windows or locks. The only way I have been able to get it started again is to jump it; and as soon as I connect the jumper cables I can turn the key and everything is fine. Things I've done: The battery is new, the alternator has been tested and works, the ground and power wires have been replaced and the ground was cleaned, the igintion switch was removed and cleaned then put back in but I didn't replace it.

Any help would be awesome, thanks!

 

Might try simply pulling and cleaning all the fuses in the fuse blocks under the hood and under the dash to see if that helps. I once had my '85 power cut out on me while driving. Pulled over and checked every fuse, no problems found. But when I tried to restart the engine, all was normal, so I figured that there was an oxidized fuse contact some place and just pulling and replacing them cleaned that up. Has not happened again in 11 years.

 

But I've never lost power while driving. I have to turn the truck off or stall

 

Didn't mean to imply that you needed to lose power while driving to have the problem I experienced. Just suggesting something to try that helped in my case, which could have happened equally while running or after shutting of the engine. In fact after I pulled over, I tried to restart the engine and got nothing when I turned the key. After inspecting all the fuses (and finding no problems) it fired right back up like nothing had happened.

 

Thats just weird, but I'll give it a try. Thanks man.