Hard Start Electrical Gremlin

[Skipjack24]

Hello All,



I've got a 95 4X4 auto w/ 137,000 on the odometer. Got in the truck to leave work today and turned the key, all appropriate lights came on, finished turning the key and everything went dead! It wouldn't even turn over. Pulled the key out, reinserted and still got nothing (did this a few more times). I put the seat back and contemplated the long call to AAA towing and noticed the lights on the dash were back on. Turned the key and she fired right up! Only thing I noticed was that I had lost all the memory in the stereo - it was like the batteries had been disconnected. Checked all connections, cleaned them and there were no dead cells in the batteries. Any thoughts on what may have happened.



Thanks for the help!!

 

[illflem]

It may be time to replace your batteries or you have a bad connection/ wire that you didn't find. I've had battery cables corrode all the way though in the middle under the insulation where you can't see it, really drove me crazy figuring that one out the first time. There's an old trick called bootstrapping, back from the days when boots had large metal buckles on them. When your battery is low if you short the positive and negative poles together (with a bootstrap?) the heat generated in the battery by the short will actually bring the charge up allowing you to crank it over. I've done this a few times in a pinch, never with a bootstrap, it works but is somewhat dangerous. I think you may have done much the same thing by using your power seat (was it a power seat?) Causing a large electrical draw by turning on the brights will do the same thing. A large draw will sometimes even temporally arc a poor/ corroded connection or wire back together. With your engine off turn on the lights and wiggle the battery cables and main positive wires around and see if you can get the lights to flicker, then you'll know where the problem lies. Since you lost the memory on your stereo I tend to think that the problem doesn't isn't with the key switch or under dash wiring. Sounds like a main positive or ground problem under the hood.

 

[Skipjack24]

Thanks a lot for the advice!! I'll take a crack at the underhood main cables (after I find a bootstrap!!) and see if I can locate the weak spot.



Thanks again.