No power at all won’t start

[Williebeaman]

so I was coming home and I turned off my truck so I could unlock the gate and when I tried to start it clicked and then nothing, no power no more dash lights no nothing. I checked the battery everything is tight and looks good. I had this issue bulefore and I had to take it to a mechanic and he told me it was just a loose cable by the starter but I couldn’t see anything loose down there not that I could see very much it’s in a tight spot. I’m not much a mechanic I’ve slowly been teaching myself but I’m at a loss here. I’ve never dealt with electric stuff before so I don’t have a meter but I guess I’ll go pick one up if I need to

 

[Bent77]

Give us some information on the truck so we know what we’re looking at

 

[Williebeaman]

89 gmc jimmy tbi 350 auto trans 4x4

 

[1-ton]

Probably something to do with the battery cables again, and any wiring that is routed with the battery cables to starter motor and altenator.

 

[Kain]

there is a little wire down by the starter that can break cause it bends at weird angles
wish i had a pic (found one) the pink wire in this pic

 

[Bent77]

Also, said wire originally on these trucks has a “fused link”
They are known to fail

 

[frankin5]

How old is Alternator and was it charging. If it is not working the truck will run till the battery is gone. This has happened to me twice in the last three years on my daily driver. Will it start when jumped? If it starts will it continue to run for more than five minutes? Is the battery in good health? What is it age and do you daily drive this truck? Are all your grounds in good condition?

 

[Williebeaman]

Alternator works fine the battery has full charge I was paranoid because it had the weird terminals on the side and the bolts kept stripping and barley hanging on so I swapped it out with a new battery and new terminals and that wasn’t the problem. As far as the grounds go I’m not super sure as I stated I’m new to the whole mechanic deal it’s my daily driver. I just put new bearings, ball joints, rod ends, brakes, calipers, rotors, hubs on it. She’s my daily driver. I work all day today so won’t be able to start messing with it again until Sunday. Will a bad starter cause it to not get any power at all?

 

[Bent77]

It would only cause it to not turn over. The lights and all inside the cab would still work

 

[Abusfullofnuns]

Will a bad starter cause it to not get any power at all?

A starter doesn’t have anything to do with providing power. It’s a gear with a solenoid attached. It should have a fat wire that has 12V and then a smaller wire that sends signal to start. It will have power when the key is in the crank position. Start there and we can narrow it down between the starter and the wiring. However, the no lights would indicate hat it’s not the starter and more likely a loose battery connection.

 

[Abusfullofnuns]

@Bent77 beat me to it.

 

[diesel4me]

The pink wire in that photo is the "crank" wire that gets 12V sent to it from the ignition switch....if you jump that wire with a screwdriver to the positive battery cable right next to it at the solenoid the starter should crank, if the battery is not dead ,even if the fusible links have failed...and the starter & solenoid are working OK..

The engine might start if you leave the key "on",while you jump the wire,but if no power is getting to the cab it wont have spark ,so it'll just crank over without starting..this test will help pin down what is at fault..
Usually its the fusible links..there is another fusible link at the firewall next to the power brake booster also that protects the cab wiring,that one will kill all power if it fries due to a short circuit somewhere in the harness..

The "main" fusible links (some trucks have more than one) are located in the wiring harness that goes to the starter solenoid,they are red or thick pink wires factory,and GM ran that harness thru a metal conduit that is bolted to one of the bell housing bolts,the fusible links are inside it and get baked by exhaust manifold heat and they can fail when the wires ground out on the metal conduit..these fail more often than the other link up near the brake booster due to the heat..

 

[apalomarez172]

The pink wire in that photo is the "crank" wire that gets 12V sent to it from the ignition switch....if you jump that wire with a screwdriver to the positive battery cable right next to it at the solenoid the starter should crank, if the battery is not dead ,even if the fusible links have failed...and the starter & solenoid are working OK..

The engine might start if you leave the key "on",while you jump the wire,but if no power is getting to the cab it wont have spark ,so it'll just crank over without starting..this test will help pin down what is at fault..
Usually its the fusible links..there is another fusible link at the firewall next to the power brake booster also that protects the cab wiring,that one will kill all power if it fries due to a short circuit somewhere in the harness..

The "main" fusible links (some trucks have more than one) are located in the wiring harness that goes to the starter solenoid,they are red or thick pink wires factory,and GM ran that harness thru a metal conduit that is bolted to one of the bell housing bolts,the fusible links are inside it and get baked by exhaust manifold heat and they can fail when the wires ground out on the metal conduit..these fail more often than the other link up near the brake booster due to the heat..

Did you ever find out the problem. I'm dealing with that right now on my 76 K5 Blazer

 

[imiceman44]

Did you ever find out the problem. I'm dealing with that right now on my 76 K5 Blazer

Not only is this an old thread, the member you quoted passed away a few years ago.
While it's cleaner to start a thread of your own lets see what similarities you have with this post.
Assuming you have a good battery, did you confirm that cable connected to the starter has power?
Do you have power at the ignition?
Give a quick rundown of what you are dealing with