jdbruegge

I have a 2000 1500 with the 4.8L, and what would seem to be a dead battery. The starter won't turn, I have no lights, no radio, no door locks. 100% nothing. I put it on the charger, it immediately reads 100%. Put it in my girlfriend's 2003 s10, I get the sparks when I first connect the leadsm but after that nothing at all. Same story when it goes back in mine, sparks but no lights, locks, etc. Put her smaller battery in mine, it starts, but runs weak (will die if I idle, but runs with throttle). Same results if my battery is in, but I jump start off her truck. I put the battery in my boat with a 150 yamaha outboard, fires right up.

Handheld voltmeter reads 12.9v, and will start a large boat no problem, so the battery is ok.

I get no power at all in my truck, so it's not a starter problem. A new battery will start and run my truck.

I went through all this 3 weeks ago, except for trying it in the boat and came to the conclusion that although it tested good, the battery had a dead cell. I replaced it, and last night this happened again. The first time it went bad, the battery was 3 months old. This battery is 3 weeks old.

What should I do next????

jdbruegge

Solution:

I can jump from another battery, grabbing on to the head of the battery cable terminals, but get no power out of them plugged in. So I figured it had to be in that connection. Pulled the battery out and jumper cabled from my battery to the head of the cable bolts, bypassing the threaded portion.

Turns out the pos battery cable was screwing in to the battery but not getting a connection, so I got a battery cable repair harness at O'Reilly's for $15, spliced that in, and bam it works.