White woman needs serious help with her truck

[Savanah23]

In all seriousness... I need help with my truck BAD, I’m in Alaska where it’s negative temperatures and snow up to my knees and of course “ole reliable” went and took a crap on me. Why now? Well here’s what happened:

1997 Chevy K1500 extended cab 5.7L

I’m driving down the road, I hit my multifunction switch to turn on my brights, I heard a pop and boom I had no lights at all, no lows or highs. Luckily I was close enough to make my way safely to my dad where he used a jumper wire at my headlight dimmer switch to manually turn the high beams on just so I could get home. Mind you, it drove fine all the way home.

after that, i needed to go into town, drive about 4 miles to get into town. I stop at a light, all of a sudden my stereo went staticky, and my truck started just sputtering, as if it’s choke was pulled or something. Managed to pull over where I put it in park. As soon as I put it in park, the rpms just started rising. No foot on the throttle. So I shut it off. Went to turn it back on and it clicked like the battery died.

Ended up getting it towed home. Replaced the alternator and the battery. Now it’ll start when you jump it but as soon as you unplug it it dies. And it’s drawing a lot of power because even the vehicle jumping it starts to bog out when it’s connected to my truck . At this point I have to let it charge for at least 10 minutes before I can even crank it over.

any help is SO APPRECIATED. You have no idea

soooo where do i start? Btw I had the alternator bench tested and the battery is brand new. So I know they’re good.

 

[sewlow]

Check the 3 major grounds. Not only the connections but have a resistance test done on them. (OHM meter)
If they're the original cables, replace them. 23 years old. If they have green oxidation inside the first few inches, then that probably runs the whole length of the cable. That creates resistance.
These trucks are known to do funky-weird things, just like those which you've described, when those grounds aren't right.
Google 'The Big 3'.
I believe there's a member here that sells the Big 3 kits in an upgraded gauge of cable.

 

[skylark]

I agree 100% on grounds. You also need to check for a draw. Here is how you do it. Put an old fashioned test light between the negative battery cable and the negative terminal on the battery. It has to be an incandescent bulb not an led. You should see a slight glow from a minor draw from the PCM and radio memory. Anything more is a problem. You isolate the problem by pulling fuses and relays one at a time to see where your light goes dim, that is the problem circuit. If you pull everything and nothing went dim then it is time to start disconnecting things like the alternator, starter, ignition switch, etc.

 

[Savanah23]

Ok so I just tested the ground on my truck with a multimeter and I've got good ground to my engine and chassis. How do I test the ground on my alternator? Or do yall have any other ideas?

 

[Savanah23]

I agree 100% on grounds. You also need to check for a draw. Here is how you do it. Put an old fashioned test light between the negative battery cable and the negative terminal on the battery. It has to be an incandescent bulb not an led. You should see a slight glow from a minor draw from the PCM and radio memory. Anything more is a problem. You isolate the problem by pulling fuses and relays one at a time to see where your light goes dim, that is the problem circuit. If you pull everything and nothing went dim then it is time to start disconnecting things like the alternator, starter, ignition switch, etc.

So I did this and when I pulled the battery fuse under the hood it dimmed. And when I pulled the T case fuse it dimmed also

 

[geeeee89]

Not sure why your t-case would be drawing power. If you look at the wires around the t-case and the plugs that plug into the sensors on it, is anything pinched or chafed that would cause it to short out or anything? Probably not it but worth checking.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Sounds like a pinched wire or two somewhere...on our old trucks the connections can get loose or crusty or both. Electricity likes a clear path to travel. Stuff vibrates and a 4x4 has more of that. Good luck and let us know what you did to get it fixed