Hi Guys, new here, just bought an '89 1500 sierra, 305 tbi 2wd reg cab short box

it ran and drove fine, brought it home, disconnected the battery, proceeded to replace rockers, cab corners, floors, etc. in the process I occasionally hooked up the battery, started the truck, and moved it. I did this as recently as 4 days ago. The truck is done and back together for the most part now, and I wanted to pull it from the garage to do a cleanup. I hooked up the battery, and cranked the truck over.. didn't fire right away, released the key, went to crank it again, it turned a bit and stopped, the instrument cluster went dead. I charged the battery over night and now have a good strong 12.9 volts, when I turn the key on right away all the dash lights light up and the blower motor comes on, as soon as I turn to crank everything shuts off, and doesn't come back on when I release the key. the battery is still strong at 12.9 volts. when I turn the key, there is no click, no anything, all lights go off, and stay that way.

I have tried screwing around with neutral saftey switch.. switching from park to drive and back, still nothing... checked all fuses and they seem to be good.

does anyone have any other suggestions?

thank you for your time

Dave

 

Id say check your ground wire at the block and also check the wires that go into the battery terminal. Also the next step to rule out the starter wire is put the key in the on position, then put jumper cables on the battery. Crawl under the truck and connect the negative side to a trany bolt or something that will ground and touch the positive side to the SMALL stud on the starting solenoid that the smaller wires run too. It may spark a few times but once you get a good connection it will turn the truck over.

If that starts it with the key in the run position id make sure your starting solenoid wire is good. And if that checks out recheck all your grounds.

 

Yeah more than likely you have a bad connection some where. Clean your cables (+ & -) on both ends and it should crank up.

 

all connections are cleaned, have a solid 12v to the terminal block on the firewall, headlights work, and are not phased by the ignition switch... seems as thought ignition switch may be the culprit... is there an overload relay somewhere on these trucks that could be tripped?

 

Well if thats the case there is a while box on the top left of your steering column that your a rod moves up and down in when you turn the key. Its possible it slipped out of position BUT if that was the case it wouldn't make everything on the dash die. That an indication that its allowing power to go somewhere but not making the final connection and drawing to much current.

Maybe check the small starting solenoid wires? Get down underneath the truck with a multi meter. The larger wire on the solenoid will always have 12v. have someone turn the key to the "start position" with the volt meter touching the small stud where the smaller wires run too on the solenoid and you should get 12v there until they let go of the key back to the run position.

I would also check the whole jumper cable thing that I mentioned before to make sure you don't have a dead starter so you can rule that out.

 

Does it have the full 12v when you turn the key? You can measure 12v with no load and then when you hit the starter, it drops to 8v, which indicates a weak battery. You have to measure the battery voltage under load to get a meaningful reading. Good luck.

 

I agree with SlimJim. Test the battery under load. Also check your starter cables at the starter. Loose, cracked or frayed high tension leads could easily result in a drop in currant.
And, if not the rod in the column, or bad cables, before you start randomly replacing things, remove the starter and bench test it (make sure you have if firmly clamped down to your work bench before you put power to it).

You can check it in the truck by using a remote starter button. They aren't expensive, and are a good tool to have in your tool box if you do a lot of work alone.

Good Luck!