electrical gremlin

[poolcues]

the vehicle is a 1988 chevy k1500, 350/700r4/241. about a week ago my brother stopped to get gas and after filling up he went to crank his truck and after turning a few times the truck went dead, no gauges, power windows ,nothing but the dome lights would work. after looking at it i noticed the power wire going to the starter was exposed and the insulation may have melted off from it getting hot. i pulled the starter checked the wire for other bare spots and with the starter pulled the truck would power up, gauges worked, etc. so i figured problem solved. i replaced the starter solenoid because the old one cracked at the pos. battery cable terminal when i was taking it out. put everything back together and the truck went dead within seconds off trying to crank it again. triple-checked all the fuses and fusible links there all good.i disconnected the power wire and left the pos. cable hooked. within minutes the gauges , etc. started working again but as soon as i touched the power wire to the start side of the solenoid it went dead again, a few minutes later with the power wire off gauges, etc. worked. would the fuel pump relay be bad and causing this? any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[readymix]

Battery could be going bad

 

[poolcues]

a battery going bad would cause it to act like that?

 

[readymix]

Bad cell might

 

[Leper]

Loose connection at battery or battery cable corroded beneath the insulation.


Loose nut behind the wheel????

 

[goldwing2000]

Yeah, I'd check your battery ground. That's exactly what my buddy's 'Burb was doing.

 

[AFUFO]

While i am a n00b with part names, right after our family got our 1998 Z71 pickup, We were on our first vacation with it, took it offroad and through some mud, then in farmville VA at the pump, turned it back on, and it did the same thing. we pushed it out of the way from the pump, and after a few mins it started working again. We managed to make it the long way back home plus more offroad without problems, a week or two later it crapped out again, then worked again, so we finally had my uncle inspect it and he called it i think the ignition plug, It was loose.

Sorry i cant be of much help yet

Edit - Yes, everything died as well, i think the dome lights were still on too.
Also, never had anymore problems with it.