92 suburban out of storage, started and died

[BigBurbBastard]

So after 5 months in storage I was planning on taking my 1992 suburban out of winter storage. It started up like it was never parked and idled perfectly, but once I got it moving down the driveway it just flat out died (no spitting or sputtering). I tried to start it again and the lights worked but I had no clicking from the starter and the gauges never even flickered. After hooking up a battery pack it started perfect again and repeated the drive like it did the first time. While running the voltage read above 14 volts. I took the battery and alternator to NAPA and they were proven to be in working order. I did notice that I had a broken ground strap from the wirewall leading to the starter I believe (burnt itself on the header). I never checked the fuses. What could be the problem?

 

[Eveready]

You might have a small phantom load on the battery when parked and the battery was just flat. How old is the battery? At the very least I would run a trickle charger on it overnight and really get it charged up. Then the alternator will likely keep it going.

 

[BigBurbBastard]

Its 2 years old, 5/19. I took the battery out of the truck and charged it for 2 hours and started tried starting it in the morning. Still had dome lights but no crank or clicking.

 

[Eveready]

It really does sound like an electrical issue. One test might be to take a set of jumper cables and jump battery ground to a really solid metal ground on the truck then jump the hot side to the terminal at the starter (shine the connections with a wire brush) If that fixes it then you have found your problem. Clean up all the grounds and your battery cable (hot or ground) is likely bad also. Sometimes those cables go bad from the inside and you can't see the fault. The fact that the dome light works (small load) and the truck (big load) won't run points in the direction of a supply cable issue. Good luck and let us know what you find.

 

[Schurkey]

Seen plenty of batteries and cable ends that allow lights to work, but won't transmit enough current to work the starter or other heavier loads.

Not uncommon to see hard BLACK corrosion on the battery terminals. It's as harmful as the more-usual green fuzzy corrosion, but has to be scraped-off instead of dissolved with baking soda.

Battery connections need to be shiny "silver".

 

[BigBurbBastard]

There will be no updates until the weekend as its sitting at the cabin right now...

I do however have new battery terminals and the broken ground wire will be the first thing taken care of. On the battery itself I see no corrosion at all but will have to see this weekend how the wires look.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Just to reinforce how important good connections are on these trucks: my 99 Burb does everything it's supposed to, EXCEPT that the voltmeter gauge won't go to 14 like usual, IF the cables are an 1/8 of a turn loose. 1/4 turn loose, and it's not real interested in starting.
My connections are clean, cables are nearly new, and the grounds are good. Good hot battery with extra CCA for Texas summer, starter and alternator are good.

 

[BigBurbBastard]

Alright, since the truck is at a friend's cabin, what are some good things to bring along for parts to test out if the ground is not the problem? I'm bringing as many tools as I can, including electrical connectors in case I find sny wires rodents have got a hold of.