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Suburban left me stranded at -14*

Burbdood 74

Burbdood 74

Giver of not a single damn...
Joined
Jan 12, 2008
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Billings Montana
Alrighty then, now that my fingers are finally thawed enough to type again....here's a little background.

1988 Suburban, Die Hard Gold that's about 3 years old, re-manned starter that I replaced in April. Thursday afternoon, I stopped at a gas-n-go place near my work so I can grab lunch. I shut the truck off and went on in. When I came back out and tried to start the truck, it cranked really, really s-l-o-w and then it goes, click/click/click/click real fast......but no start.

I immediately thought "BATTERY!". (I actually called it a few other things before I called it a battery, but I won't repeat them here.) Anyway, I get a ride to work from a co-worker and call the Mrs. to have her buy a new battery so I can install it after work. Install it 6 hours later and after I put it in, same thing, cranks s-l-o-w and click/click/click/click real fast. At this time it's -14* with windchill of -25* and I call a wrecker for the painful drag home, (it was a Ferd that pulled my poor Fillmore). :doah:

Saturday morning, I pull the starter and have it tested. It's good to go, but they go ahead and warranty it anyway. Stab the new one in and same thing, no change.....click/click/click/click real fast, no start.

Is it the alternator? Grounds look good and it was running like a top just minutes before it did this. I will say that every now and then it'll crank slow, but it always starts.....until the arctic freeze hit anyway.

BTW, I'm also replacing both positive and negative cables next weekend.

What else could it be?
 
the cold hits weak links the hardest. Just cause its a gasser doesn't mean it doens't need to be plugged in. and when its damn cold **** needs to be plugged in. and plonk a battery charger on it. just casue its a new battery doesn't mean its fully charged either. it might have been sitting for 2 years already.

I drive a Ferd F-Teenthousand it runs on testosterone, so it still starts every time hell freezes over.
 
I hear what you're saying, but around here it only gets cold like that 1 or 2 days at the most. Besides, I started it at home ok and drove it 6 or 7 miles before I shut it off at the C-store and the temp was up to normal, (cardboard in front of the rad). The volt guage was reading just over 12 volts while I was driving too.

It never gave me any indication of any forthcoming problems.
 
well its at your house now, yes? So get it plugged in and get the charger on that battery. give it a couple hours, hour, whatever. start it up. you'll need a multimeter to verify battery standing, voltage. alternator output voltage with the engine running.

if the volt gauge was reading 12 ish. thats too low that means the alternator is not putting out. 14.4v is money output for the Alt.
 
It could be a bad alternator that's pulling the juice from the battery.....or the "new" battery was drained before you installed it.
 
DEMON44 said:
well its at your house now, yes? .
Click to expand...


Yeah, it's home so I'll go ahead and throw the charger on it and see how that goes. I'm thinking of taking the alt. off and having it tested too.


BTW, I want one of those Ferd F-teenthousand so I can have a home for my whale and the bale of horses.....:haha::haha:
 
Since you said you were going to replace the cables anyway, I would do that sooner then later. I used to have a Ranger, when it would get really cold it would begin to have slow crank issues, I accredited them to the unknown age of the battery, or the original 12+ year old starter, I replaced them both after it left me sitting. A visual inspection of the cables showed no signs of any problems so I left them, just cleaned the ends. Well the problem continued and finally after the advice of a co worker I swapped out the cables for some new ones and snap that was the whole problem. I cut the sheathing of off the old cables and they were corroded badly, areas in the middle , at the tighter bends were the worst.
if you are going to do it anyway :dunno:
 
jt512 said:
Since you said you were going to replace the cables anyway, I would do that sooner then later.
Click to expand...


Yeah, that's on the list for Thursday since it's supposed to be around 45* and not terrible to work on things at that temp.
 
I fought this problem last summer! Thought it was the Altinator....replaced it. Problem continued.......replaced the batter/cables/etc.......still doing it! It would get bad enough that it stalled my engine while traveling down the highway a couple times while towing my boat to Nebraska!!!

I fought it for 2 weeks.........it was the starter! It was causing a major draw on the electrical system and it tested good twice at Autozone! I finally got fed up with it and bought a new one from Napa and it's running like a dream now.........I do have an entirely NEW electrical system for charging and such so the money was well spent! :whistle::whistle:

I'll bet it has something to do with that STARTER.......
 
Sounds like a bad ground cable. Make sure that the ground cable comes off the battery and directly to the engine block and replace it with a new one.
 
Check the terminal Block mounted on the fire wall above the dizzy. My were loose and corroded and prevented the current from going through.
 
I've had cables look fine,but take them off and slice off the insulation and I found spots that had white dust where copper strands should have been!..I've seen cables that got hot from excessive cranking loads that looked fine that developed a high resistance and the "hot spots" got hot but robbed juice going to the starter..

Also if your purple solenoid wire hasn't got sufficient juice,the solenoid may not fully engauge,so check for voltage drop at that wire,it should get a full 12V--if it dont it could be a bad wire,faulty neutral safety switch or ignition switch...also make sure the small ground strap from the valve cover to the firewall is coonected and its in good shape,and the grounds are clean...
 
DEMON44 said:
the cold hits weak links the hardest. Just cause its a gasser doesn't mean it doens't need to be plugged in. and when its damn cold **** needs to be plugged in. and plonk a battery charger on it. just casue its a new battery doesn't mean its fully charged either. it might have been sitting for 2 years already.

I drive a Ferd F-Teenthousand it runs on testosterone, so it still starts every time hell freezes over.
Click to expand...

Best commerical on you tubetube ...nice reference
http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=/&gl=US#/watch?xl=xl_blazer&v=u1C0r2EHQfY
 
Well, for anyone who was interested, it turned out to be a combination of:

1. bad ground and
2. bad positive cable

After a week of a serious case of the "FOCK it's", I finally got the energy to work on it today, (13* outside, FML). I replaced the positive cable and I found that the negative cable was loose. I tightened the ground up and BOOM, she fired right up. The volt guage is finally reading 14.5 volts too so winner, winner chicken dinner!!

Anyway, I thank all of you that replied and I'm really happy to finally have my Fillmore back. Now back to another 65 hours of work this week.
 
Good to hear it's back up and running :waytogo:, I suspected cables, can be hard to tell if they are bad just by looking at them sometimes.
 
Yeah, it's amazing how an $11 part can leave you standing on the side of the road ready to pound your head on the sidewalk.
 
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