So the other day I was at my friends house. It was quite cold and my truck wouldn't start because I couldn't plug it in. I tried cranking the motor for a few minutes, but then the last time I turned the key to engage the starter, there was a click, and all electronics went dead. I checked my battery connections, and even put a new one in, and that didn't help at all. Its now stranded at my friends place, and I cannot seem to figure out what is wrong with it. Has this happened to anyone before? Its almost like something shorted out.

 

Maybe you blew a fuseable link. Is this a 305 TBI or vortec engine? I think 96 was the switch over year ... Check your fuses in the fuse panel. Does any electrical stuff work at all, or does it just not crank? I believe there is at least one fuseable link that runs on the wires by the starter. I wonder if one of those didn't blow because of how long you had to crank it.

 

Yeah, That's exactly what I was thinking. A fuseable link or a large main power fuse in the panel.

Let us know how you pan out with you prob Ben

 

Also...check and clean your ground cables, both ends.

 

Definitely sounds like you blew one of the main fuses in the fuse box.

 

yes, its a Vortec. I was thinking fuse too but it was too cold that night to check. The truck gets 0 power at all, its like I took the battery out. But i'm going to go look right now, so ill let you know!

Thanks for the help guys!

 

Actually, now that I think about it, this truck may have had a history of this because when I bought it there was a bunch of fuses in the console...

 

So apparently the distributor cap and rotor shorted out in the cold. Allot more expensive than I'd hoped, but could be worse

 

Glad you were able to solve the issue.
Be sure to come back and visit us again Ben