I have a 91 truck, V6, manual transmission. I replaced the battery 6 days ago and now I am not getting any electrical power at all. I have driven the truck multiple times each day since replacing the battery without issue. However, it has always had some trouble turning over when starting (would always start though).

Today, I had a flash of power and no noise from the engine when turning the key in the ignition. Each subsequent time I have tried there has been no reaction at all. No power to any lights etc in the interior. Defintely appears to be the symptoms of a dead battery but it is brand new. I also checked the voltage and it holds steady at 12.6V.

I initially thought it might be the starter, but not sure now.

I have some general knowledge of automotive service but am certainly disinclined electrically.

Any insight would be appreciated.

PS - I did find a thread similar to this but it did not seem to address the issue of absolutely no power.

Thanks

 

Battery Terminals clean and tight ??

Ground to the block has that been cleaned lately??

Your battery has a charge it is not getting where it needs to go.

 

Terminals are cleaned and tight, but I have not checked the ground to the block. I appreciate your response. I'm tied up the rest of the night but will check tomorrow morning.

 

If nothing comes on at all then check your 80 amp fuse mine blew and I had nothing come on pretty much just like your saying

 

Yes all the above...
"Clean" does not necessarily mean good electrically. You need bare, shiny metal making contact.

You also need a volt-meter and schematic.

 

Yeah everyone's right take off the ground where the connector the body and sand them

 

ALL positive and ALL ground connections.

 

sounds like a ground issue on the engine block. To test this, use your jumper cables and run a connection from engine block to negative battery post and try starting it. If it turns over easy then you have a burned open ground wire.

 

Wow, thank you all for your input on this. I have had very limited time the past couple days because of work, but got a few minutes this afternoon to check the 80A fuse (it was the simplest solution that I had time to go through). With the new fuse installed I now at least get some power. I get a single click and then nothing after that. In my limited experience this leads me to believe it might be the starter, but I will heed your advice and check out the grounds.

Thanks again for your input and I will keep you updated.

 

you checked the fuse... and how? Why replace it? Was it bad? How did you find out?

A bad starter will not prevent your lights form turning on.

Excellent!

AND GET A VOLT-METER.
I couldn't stress enough: Next to our senses (hear, see, smell, touch) the Volt-meter is the most important electrical diagnostic tool.


And find schematic to your truck and post it.

 

You can try tapping on the side of your starter a few times and try starting the truck it's worked for me a few times. But it's probably a connection problem somewhere between the battery and

 

Starter or a ground somewhere

 

[QUOTE]

you checked the fuse... and how? Why replace it? Was it bad? How did you find out?

I pulled the fuse and tested the resistance with a multimeter. Nearly no resistance indicates that the fuse has not been blown. If "OL" (overload) or very high resistance, indicates the fuse is blown (thus the fuse is performing its function to interrupt current flow).

 

Josh, Like I said, bad starter will not cause NO electrical power at all, even to the lights as O.P. describes.

AND your finding was "OL"?

 

We'll he said he now has power just getting one click and not turning over. I was just suggesting that he try tapping on it to see if it was his starter causing it to not crank. I could be wrong but my truck has only clicked one time and hitting the starter fixed it.

 

In order to properly troubleshoot, you need to describe i detail what's happening. We may be thousands of miles away from you so we do not what you have in front of you.
Need to positively identify what's clicking and where.