so i get in the truck (92) this morning and go to fire her up and everything seems fine for the first few seconds. key in, power on, turn over- she turned over and fired a round or two and then died. when i went for my second attemp i have NOTHING. no buzzer no lighs, nada. i popped the hood and found the negative battery cable was loose as a goose. my eyes lit up. tightened that up thinking i was on my merry way. no dice. still nothing. suggestions please? i need this thing running by monday or im screwed!

thanks.

 

Clean both cables and both posts on both batterys, then charge the batterys - cold weather and loose cable and oxidation = low spec grav = low charge.

 

i did see some corroded connections going to a solenoid, which im going to replace after i get some tools from the shop, and i will definatly heed your advice and clean up the connections, although, i dont think the battery is low because when it did turn over for that first time it was just as strong as ever. it went from totally normal, to totally dead. thanks for your input. i'll definatly post my results.

 

Yep - be a good time to 'winterize' the electrical system - remove, clean, and tighten everything.

Also be a good time to put an obligatory charge on the batt's while you're in there with stuff disconnected, right?

 

you were pretty much 100% correct. connections on the battery posts (first gens only come with one battery ) were just bad. i wouldnt have thought that it could start so perfectly one minute and then just be totally dead the next second without having something die or be jarred loose.

thanks for the help.

 

Put some vaseline on the posts after you clean them - prevents oxidation.

Need to do that maybe once a year, just B4 cold weather.