No Power to ignition?

[rustyk5]

Just swapped in new optima red top battery and all cables to the battery. Fired right up in 10 degree weather and ran great. Parked my blazer about a month ago to start my new floor. I have welded in new cab corners and two patch panels to fix where the drivers seat has cracked the floor. I went out yesterday to warm it up and change the oil and I get nothing. No lights no buzzer nothing. Optima is in great shape and has a charge, all cables are connected cleanly. I even wirebrushed the ground contacts till they were shinny? /forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif Help! Did I burn something up welding?
P.S. 85 k5 6.2l/700R with ac,pw,pl and tilt wheel
Thanks in advance

 

[83ZZ502_Jimmy]

Did you check fuses? If thats doesn't do it, you will need to check the fusible links. I am betting on one of these.

Also, I know it may or may not happen to be true, but I always disconnect my battery when I'm welding on my truck.

John

 

[rustyk5]

Thanks John, I pressed on all the fuses to make sure they were seated properly but it was dark and cold so I left it at that. I guess I'll have to pull each one and look at them.

 

[Resurrection_Joe]

Did you disconnect your battery when welding on the truck ?

 

[Tweetysuarus]

I have always disconnected the Battery cables when welding. You might have popped a fuse, or ignition relay? Do you have lights or other accessories?
Bill

 

[rustyk5]

No I didn't disconnect the battery. Every reference I checked didn't mention it being nessecary. There is nothing wrong with battery, full charge etc. There is no power from the firewall back-I think? I have a friend coming over with a multimeter today so I will find out for sure. Thanks for the input! Andy

 

[Derf00]

When your friend with the meter shows up the first thing you need to check is the fuse link on the fire wall.

 

[ctanner]

I am currently having the same problem. I was thinking an ignition switch failure in my case. It started acting up intermittently so that I originally thought battery or battery charging problem. As with yours my battery is just fine. The strange part is that I am able to turn on most non-ignition switched items like headlights, dome light, horn, radio clock. I am not able to turn on hazard lights, the automatic door locks are not working and there is no power to the power rear window (unfortunately in down position when last able to work!) /forums/images/graemlins/doah.gif. It is strange that these last things don’t work as they are not ignition dependent as far as I remember /forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif.

If you get yours solved please post the problem. I will do the same.

Chuck

 

[camarine]

Ran into the same problem a 6 months ago while in California. I wasn't getting any power any where. Turned out to be at the starter. Wires at the starter were all jacked up and a fusible link was screwed up. Re-wired it all and haven't had a problem for about 6 months now.

 

[rustyk5]

Well after checking some circuts and fuses that were working just fine, we checked the voltage on the battery. It registered 1.3 volts!! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif The battery charger I have has a dial indicator on it and when I attempted to fix this the 1st time the meter showed no power going to the battery, so I thought the battery was fully charged. I don't know if the cold weather or the fact that its a gel cell(optima) has anything to do with the false reading /forums/images/graemlins/doah.gif I checked it after letting it charge a half hour later and the meter on the charger said the battery was charging /forums/images/graemlins/dunno.gif
Couple hours later it fired right up.
Boy don't I feel like an idiot /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
I mostly want to that you guys for helping me on the board. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gifThis forum is great!! Thanks again.
Andy

 

[84_Chevy_K10]

You might as well throw your Optima away now. They rarely take a charge when discharged.

They do have a warranty though, so I'd look into it.

 

[gzzgfw]

[ QUOTE ]
You might as well throw your Optima away now. They rarely take a charge when discharged.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why is that, because they are dry cell and start corroding when they are dead?