Electrical Quandry

[RoDo26EOD]

Alright, here are the symptoms.
Wake up,....go to start the truck get one click and nothing. Assume it's the battery and drive my mustang to work. Comeback and go to jump it the the truck. After 10 mins I go to start the truck and nothing. No clicks, no dash buzzer, no headlights. Nothing. Like there's is no battery, and its at the time jumped to my 03 Mustang.
I had one event were the buzzer came on, but that was it. Every other attempt to start, no reaction to turning the key. Suggestions?

 

[Spott]

Start simple. Check your battery clamps and the large connections to ground and the starter relay and the starter motor. Make sure they are all clean and tight.

Also verify that you're getting +12v to the signal terminal on the starter relay, when the key is in the start position.

Let us know the results of those checks, and that will determine how we proceed next.

Scott

 

[RonD]

Yes, +1

Battery is disconnected, whether or not it looks disconnected, it is disconnected

 

[tinman_72]

Another +1, but if that is not the issue another thing to consider is that the battery's charge may be so low that it is drawing all the current away from the truck's electrical system.
I left my headlights on one time and totally discharged my battery. When I tried to start it it did nothing... no click or anything. I thought, "No problem it is a manual transmission, I can just roll it off." It was sitting at the top of a very long hill. I rolled halfway down the hill with the ignition on, in second gear and the clutch pedal up and it would not fire.
Once I disconnected the battery and tried again it fired up as soon as I let out the clutch.

 

[Spott]

Another +1, but if that is not the issue another thing to consider is that the battery's charge may be so low that it is drawing all the current away from the truck's electrical system.
I left my headlights on one time and totally discharged my battery. When I tried to start it it did nothing... no click or anything. I thought, "No problem it is a manual transmission, I can just roll it off." It was sitting at the top of a very long hill. I rolled halfway down the hill with the ignition on, in second gear and the clutch pedal up and it would not fire.
Once I disconnected the battery and tried again it fired up as soon as I let out the clutch.

He let it charge for 10 minutes with jumper cables from his mustang before trying to crank it. If everything else was connected properly, that would have been plenty to get some response from the starter. His problem is not a simple dead battery.

Never, never, never try to run a computer controlled vehicle without the battery connected. At best, the computer gets confused and shuts the engine down. At worst, you can destroy the engine computer.

 

[Tedybear]

Years ago I picked up a brand new battery cable for our old Bronco we retired.

We had a no start no crank...even with a brand new cable. The voltmeter and test light showed we had power to the relay! But dead as a stone.

We then found the battery cable new out of the box was defective. The cable is constructed with the copper wiring being molded into the battery terminal end. Except there was only 1 strand of copper (IF THAT) connected. The slightest load caused the voltage to tank.

Clean the terminals and ensure they are snug. You don't have to kill them tight! Then do the same with the solenoid if on the fender. At times the "S" terminal for the starter from the ignition switch can get some boogers built up and it will do a no start when ever it feels like it. Do those checks with the negative terminal disconnected. No sense in blowing up with could be a good battery!

S-