noobie having electrical/starting issues.

[CiaphasCain84]

I bought a 85 cucv last year. I have slowly been rebuilding it. I have done most of the work myself. New fuel pumps/filters, new radiator, new starter, new batteries, and i just recently had the fuel injector pump rebuilt. I have finally been driving the truck and went out one day and it wouldn't start. I pulled the starter off and checked and made sure the solenoid was still good. It was so i bolter it back up. I traced the igniton wire and found that there was a break in the wire so i spliced a jump wire on there and it started crcking fine. I started driving the truck again and now i am having starting issues again. When ever i try to crack the truck i have full power to everything, when i turn the ignition over there is a click and i lose power to the whole vehicle (not even lights). I checked all the fuses and none of them are blown. If i wait a while and try again i will have power til i try to crank the truck again. I am not a mechanic in any way shape or form. I picked up a few things while i was working in the motorpool but never experienced this issue and i have exhausted all of my mechanical knowledge. Thanks for any advice that you might be able to offer me. I tried to look back at some of the older threads but didn't find any that would be applicable.

 

[antennaclimber]

Sounds like you may have a bad battery connection or cable.

Read this thread http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?72880-Battery-Wiring-Maintenance

Be sure to check all of your battery cables and connections along with the connections on your starter and ground wires as well.

 

[rickf]

Agree with the battery connection. One of the main cables is loose or dirty. The fact that you have nothing at all afterwards I would check the connections closely on the front battery. I believe that is the one that feeds the truck lighting and operating systems, it has been a while since I worked on one.If one connection is dirty they all are so go over everything even if you find a bad connection on one.

 

[CiaphasCain84]

Thanks for the reply. I had thought the same thing. Both batteries are brand new. When i replaced the batteries i aslo re placed the terminals and cleaned all my connections. There is no rust or corrosion on any of the batteries connections. All the terminals and the ground is all secure. I used a test light to make sure that i am going power from the batteries. I followed the positive wire to the larger junction on the fire wall then to a smaller juntion on the firewall then into the wire harness. I had a postive power read the whole way. I haven't broke op then wire harness because frankly i couldn't tell you what wire goes to what. I can help but wonder if i have a fault ignition or if there is a short in the steering column but i am no mechanic its just a wild guess.