Truck wont start

[93shortbox]

My 93 Ranger wouldn't start so I jumped it and if fired right up. I went inside while it warmed up and came out 20 minutes later and it was dead. so I jumped it again and it started right up puzzled I just hopped it and drove it strait home.
When I got home I turned it off and then turned the key to the ACC position and nothing worked lights, gauges, radio, anything electrical. I went inside for about 20 minutes out of frustration and then went back outside to take a look under the hood. I found nothing obvious but did notice the negative terminal was unusually hot especially for sitting outside in freezing temps for the past 20 minutes. Any ideas on what is going on?

 

[Original_Ranger84]

was the terminal very loose? Cause it sounds very obviously like an electrical problem... Have you checked the battery for life? you may have a bad battery and your truck my only be getting power through the alternator and it died because the electrical load may become too much durning the A/C cycle and it shut off?

 

[93shortbox]

the terminals are very tight. Also while driving it home I noticed my amp gauge jumping around more than normal bad ground? And I already ruled out the alternator it is cranking out 14.69 volts to the terminals. It baffles me the truck will work perfectly if I jump it but as soon as I shut it down absolutely nothing will work. If it is a bad ground were is the most likely culprit?

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Sounds like the battery to me but you need to do a load no load test. First you need to fully charge the battery do a slow charge 2 amp for as long as it takes. while it is charging you need to look for shorts and clean all the grounds, Take them apart and sand them metal to metal and remove the battery or disconnect it when your charging it. Pull all the connectors apart and look for corrosion clean them and use some dielectric grease to put them together. The tech library has a section for testing your charging sysetem read it all the way through get a VOM and follow it step by step all three have to be working correct alt,reg and batt or you will be throwing money away if you just swap parts without verifying proper operation.

 

[modelageek]

+1 on the battery

 

[93shortbox]

Fixed it!!! Bad engine ground, it was almost corroded in half up next to the block. (Couldn't see it in the dark last night.) I replaced the whole wire from the block to the battery. Anyway thanks Earl43P for the schematics even though I didn't need them I appreciate the gesture.