Work truck...Chevy.

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Small Block

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OK you gurus after you get over the fact that it's a chevy i need your help. Yesterday i was coming home from an auction and i was very dry. Pulled into a Mini Mart to get a 6 pack. Shut the truck off and went in and came back out and turn the key on. It turned over very slightly then nothing. Heres the funny part. When you turn the key on in a normal situation the guages do their thing by going back and forth till they settle down and stabilize but nothing. No movement on any guage and no turning over...BUT... the radio works, the heater fans works, and the headlite works. The battery must be good or the radio wouldn't work? Plenty of battery but nothing on the dash. Need some input before i start in on it. Thanks guys as i know someone here has the answer. I'll check back in a couple of hrs.
Small Block
 
My guess would be the alternator. If you hook jumper cables up to the battery,does it start then? I had something like that happen to me a couple of years ago in my Demon.


John
 
John: I haven't tried the cable trick but the battery is hot as a fire cracker. The radio, heater, and lites work just fine. Any other ideas? Maybe a fuseable link? Where would it be? Dash only is affected. Trun the key on and the radio comes on and works fine but roll the key on over and nothing works on the dash.
Small Block
 
Small Block said:
John: I haven't tried the cable trick but the battery is hot as a fire cracker. The radio, heater, and lites work just fine. Any other ideas? Maybe a fuseable link? Where would it be? Dash only is affected. Trun the key on and the radio comes on and works fine but roll the key on over and nothing works on the dash.
Small Block
Click to expand...

Try the jumper cables. VERY possible there is enough batt.to run radio,etc. The starter requires 150 amps to run. Power to the dash is interrupted in start position. Could also be a dead starter. Also check charging once running,as stated could be bad alt causing batt to drain while running.
 
What happend to me was my alternator took a dump while driving,my amps dropped,the radio wouldn't work unless at low RPM's,and something else I notice went goofy too,but don't remember. Anyway I went back home,shut the car off and wouldn't try to start,radio and everything worked and my battery was good too at the time. That's when I put the jumpers on the battery and it started. Kind of bypassed something but it worked. Remember,this was in my car.
 
Also I do remember a time with an older '86 Chevy truck I owned and I killed the alternator from all the lights on the truck and a trailer,wipers and defrost on too. It shut the truck down while driveing,and what I ended up doing was running a heavy gauge wire from the possitive battery post the BAT post on the alternator and it started right up,and got me home. Here the diode bridge rectifier burned up in the alterator.

Hope this info helps you out Smallblock.

John
 
I'll jerk the alt and take it up for a test first then well start the old process of elemination and go down the list. I called the parts store and they have a replacement for $100. Meantime i'll put the charger on the battery and see what it's reading for charge.
Small Block.
 
What year truck is it?

Try checking the fusible links if the alt checks out.

Earlier models have them down by the starter. Later models('87 and later style) have them at the starter and also under the black plastic relay cover on the firewall.
 
It's a 98 350 Vortec 4x4 auto 2500. Fuseable links? I'll look for em.

What an idiot i am for not saying what the hell we were dealing with in the first place. A BIG brain fart ya might say.
Thanks guys
 
Smallblock, check the ignition switch. The wires break at the solder joints . I've replaced a lot of them. Depending on what wire breaks, you can have a whole lot of different symptoms, too. Some times you can jiggle the harness coming out of the column and get power back temporarily.
(20 plus years GM experience)
 
I agree with whats been said alternator, ignition but also would suggest giving the starter a few taps with a hammer while someone else turns the key.
 
Check the battery cable ends. Those side post Chebbies will corrode up and it is hard to see.

Lights, radio and all will work, but not enough juice to start due to the corrosion.
 
What leads me to think it's the ignition switch is that the guages aren't sweeping when the key is turned. There are 2 or 3 wires that feed the fuse box, and each of them kills a different part of the power distribution.
 
good thinking, don`t ya wish they were all that easy to fix:clock: hopefully it`s a permenant fix. If the fuse blows again you might be back to square one. My Dad, had a simular senario, I asked if there was a fuse, there was but was good. So he figured solinoid. I pulled starter and swapped for him and noticed the smaller wire was cooked by manifold heat, they were in a loom also. I had to pull starter back out to acess and tape up good and used fuel line, to replace the plastic loom. He said maybe thats why his gauges were wackey. The gauge problem improved but did`nt cure. I pointed out that the engine to body ground did`nt look too good either. chevy, early 90`s, are real low on the firewall probably catching a lot of water. He was content with it running, so we left it @ that.
 
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