starting issues, no power

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kbailey

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Apr 15, 2010
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Hey guys, I am have trouble with my '98 12 valve. I stopped to fuel up the yesterday and when I got back in the truck I turned the key and got nothing .. no power, no cranking, nothing. I popped the hood and fiddled with the battery connections, hopped back in and the truck started. Made it to school and turned off the truck. When I came back later to head home I had the same problem .. no power, no cranking, nothing. Popped the hood and again played with the electrical connections but with no results. A friend drove me home last night and back to school this morning. I have been working on the truck for the last several hours and cannot get the truck to crank.

Here is a list of the things I have checked/done so far:

Cleaned all battery terminals and wire connections.
Put both batteries on a charger (both tested fully charged)
Checked all of the underhood fuses with a multimeter
Unplugged and reconnected the three connectors to the pcm
Unplugged the engine speed sensor
Checked for voltage to the starter
Checked power to the pcm (1.5v on the green wire w/ yellow stripe)

Here is the list of symptoms I currently have:

If I disconnect the batteries for 10+ minutes the gauges work, wait to start light comes on, and voltmeter reads around 8v.

As soon as I try the key the fuel solenoid snaps up then I get nothing. If I try the key again the gauges die and no fuel solenoid. The dash lights also die except for the parking brake, abs, and low fuel light. The odometer also flashes.



last year I had a problem where the main 140 amp fuse blew and the ess went bad. once I replaced the fuse I was able to start the truck by disconnecting the ess .. but the fuse is good and I've already tried disconnecting the ess.

Thoughts?


Again: 1998, 12v, 4wd, manual trans
 
Often overlooked but as important as the hot cable...check your battery cable ground connections on the engine block, frame, etc.
 
check the wires/cables that are connected to the starter. I killed 3 starters last winter so i have some good experience with rebuilding them LOL
 
You should also make sure the cables ends are solidly attacted. some times they corrode and you lose voltage and amps. I prefer to soder new ends on. You can check bad connections by useing a set of jumper cables to bypass the existing ones.

Hope this helps.
 
I rechecked all of the connections, recleaned all of the grounds, replaced the starter (old one tested bad at napa) .. and now the truck starts. Before attempting to start the gauges came back and finally read correctly.

I claimed victory then went to move the truck .... something is still bad wrong. I didnt make it out of 2nd gear before the tach and speedo went crazy. The tach went to zero and the speedo when to 100. There is also some kind of clicking under the hood and I do not know what it is. About 5 seconds after the gauges went crazy the engine shut off. It restarted and acted fine then the gauges went crazy again. I parked and popped the hood. I played with all the connections I messed with then took off again. I made about 1 lap of the parking lot before the gauges again went crazy followed shortly by the engine dying .. I restarted it and it died right away. Again it restarted and stayed running until I turned it off.

I plan on checking the pcm connections then pulling relays 1 at a time. If I cant find a problem then I am going to consider wiring up the fuel shut off and driving home (after a few more test laps).

Any idea on what loose connections would cause the gauges to freak out and then the engine to die?
 
dont over look the batterys do a load check on them, not just a voltage check.
 
Well after taking apart the electrical connections again the truck now starts and runs/drives fine (I have never had this many issues working on the electrical in the 6 years I've owned the truck). However, there is still something wrong as the abs light and parking brake light are on. Ideas? Fuse? Relay?
 
Did you by chance put dielectric grease on the electrical connections?
 
Check the abs sensor And the conections to it. Also check the connections by the abs pump. That should take care of both lights.
 
Well the problem seems to have fixed itself ... the abs and parking brake lights went off on their own and have been off for the last several days .. and no the light bulbs didnt burn out. Seriously, did Ray Charles design this electrical system??
 
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