occasionally not starting

[KLuckel]

over the past several months (year?) my truck will occasionally decide not to start. there will be no battery juice at all getting to the dashboard lights or anything. then i'll hit the battery connectors with something heavy a couple of times and then so far it has started. the wierdest thing was last summer when i redid the battery connectors thinking that was the problem and it still didnt start. then it turned out that running the gear shift up and down a couple of times got er going again. i'd like to try to figure this out before i get stranded somewhere. any ideas?

 

[dpuckett]

Did you get new ends or new whole cables? If just new ends, your cables could be getting old and causing much resistance. Or it could be cheap connectors not making a good connection. The no power to the dash lights leads me to believe something is up there.



If you have to jiggle your shifter to get it to start, linkages and bushings along the path of the shifter could be wearing, telling your neutral safety switch it isnt in Park when it really is. Mom's does this occasionally. She lives with it for now (and this is a rare occasion I recommended doing the same). She knows what wires to jump under the hood to get it to start, if the jiggle doesnt work.



ALso check your grounds to the chassis and engine. There is a wire going from the negative terminal to the core support right in front of the battery. Sometimes this causes headaches.



Daniel