No electrical power to anything - just dead???

[Jimmy]

Yesterday I tried to start my '88 Comanche 2.8. It cranked just fine for about 3 seconds, almost started, then it just went dead. Even the headlights won't come on. It acts like the battery is disconnected.

 

I checked the battery cables, cleaned them, everything looks good. I thought that fixed it, it started, ran for a few minutes (enough to pull out of my driveway and into the alley), then same thing happened. Just completely dead.

 

I checked the connections at the starter (I replaced the starter last week), everything is tight, clean, no corrosion.

 

I charged the battery overnight, just in case. I even swapped the battery out of my car, just to eliminate that as a possibility. Even with a charged or confirmed-good battery, it does the same thing.

 

I did notice that unlike most cars, the main connection from the electrical system to battery is not at the starter, it appears to be at a [relay?] adjacent to the battery.

If that relay next to the battery went bad, would it cause the problems I am encountering?

 

If it were the fusible link in the battery cable, the whole system wouldn't be dead - it just wouldn't crank? Right?

 

 

Is there something else I should check?

 

I need to get the truck out of my alley before someone vandalizes it.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

-James-

[jeep_freek88]

fusable link :dunno: thats what was wrong with mine

:thumbsup:

[Wildman]

I hope you meant that you have a '88 with a 2.5 :hmm:

 

OK.......it's an '88, the original cables??? There 21 years old. Get new cables, Don't use the bolt on cable ends, there nothing but trouble, The positive with the lead (pigtail) for the starter relay (what your saying - "the main connection from the electrical system to battery is not at the starter" )

 

Also replace the negative cable, and your more that likely to find the ground cable is bad, or the connection to the block is loose, or corroded.

 

If the fuseable link were bad, you wouldn't have any start at all.

 

Both cable are going to cost about $26 and should solve your starting/running problems. Oh, and get some dielectric grease, and coat all the connections with it.