Battery Problems...

[stockk5]

after putting on my exhaust on my 87 TBI k5 blazer and welding a lil bit while battery still hooked up i get in truck.. start it up check for leaks.. nothing bad engine running fine. So go in have dinner, come out go to turn it over.. nothing.. dead, ok so batterys dead, i try to jump it.. it does nothing. No dome light.. even my seatbelt light is dim.... sooo i take the battery from the truck that works and put it in. I go into the truck and my radio is on full blast and dome light on, awesome so i go to turn on the truck and nothing.. then turn it off and all on again.. dome light doesnt even come on.. seatbelt light only thing sorta on super dim.

Call up a friend, he says accessory wire on starter.. i rip all the wires off the starter make sure they are far away from the headers.. plug em all back on.. connect battery again, go into truck turn dome light on. bright as it should be! great so i go to turn the truck on.. nothing dead, and dome light dont work again. I checked all the fuses... soo did i destroy my computer? super frustrated,, someone help?

 

[AZ79K5Project]

Check grounds. Check the positive cable itself. You may have a bad ground or bad positive main cable.

A few around here have fried the + wire down near the exhaust and near the frame.

 

[1980]

Check The wires from the battery to the starter

 

[stockk5]

could it be the fuseable links near the starter?... i hate electrical problems more than anything ever... speciallly when its 25out

 

[AZ79K5Project]

No - fusable links are work/no work. A blown fuse is just that.

 

[stockk5]

alright... well maybe its still grounding out somewhere then... just really hope i didint destroy my computer.

 

[4X4HIGH]

Just FYI, the computer has no function in the engine cranking over.

 

[AZ79K5Project]

One more thing. My truck had broken ground straps and a bad positive cable at the battery. The wire had corrosion up inside and pretty much split the cable into two pieces under the insulation.

 

[stockk5]

alright soo i replaced all my fuseable links and new wires to the starter.. all the grounds off the battery to frame and then engine block to firewall are good, truck is hooked up right now to another truck trying to charge the battery.. i hooked it up went inside my truck turn on dome light and it came on bright.. but then i shut it off and turn it back on.. dead as a doornail... im letting it charge a bit more.. then will see what i will do. What could be my next steps?

 

[AZ79K5Project]

Check the battery voltage before and after to make sure the battery is dead and it's not something else. Have you taken the battery to a parts place and had it load tested?

If the battery is dropping off that fast and the battery is good, there is a severe short somewhere.

 

[stockk5]

yeah that seems all my truck ever is one big SHORT... swear since i swaped in this motor about every month i've had a ground/short problem.. and get non stop sh*t from all my friends who run carbs saying its tbi's junk stuff... so to a total newbie to electrical how the heck to i go about tracking down a short in a truck just FULL of wires....im completely overwhelmed and frustrated right now

 

[AZ79K5Project]

Tracking down a wiring gremlins suck. If you battery is going dead at a flick of a switch, there is a direct ground short that would be causing high heat and smoke if that amount of drain was passed to ground. I don't think you have that big of a short.

There are a bunch of methods to track down a battery drain.

Here's the basic premise to test for shorts:
http://www.landroverclub.net/Club/HTML/Electrics_battery_drain.htm

 

[stockk5]

alright thanks.. this is truely one of the most frustrating things ever.. gonna attack it more tmrow. thanks.

 

[AZ79K5Project]

alright thanks.. this is truely one of the most frustrating things ever.. gonna attack it more tmrow. thanks.

What'd ya find?

 

[stockk5]

ah i forgot bot my thread, well i replaced all the wiring that was kinda burned up near the header.. put a new battery in.. and a newer starter.. few other guys i spoke to said it was the stater solinoid.. seemed to be the problem, so new one fixed it! thanks for ur help!

 

[AZ79K5Project]

Glad you got it running.