Until a couple weeks ago I hadn't driven my truck except for around the block as I was fixing it up. Well I had to go pick some stuff up from 100 miles away so I decided to take the truck.

I was driving at night on the way there. First I noticed my tail lights weren't on, and quickly figured out there was some kind of short in the **** you pull to turn the lights on (the headlights would come on, but the tail lights took some fiddling with the **** to come on too).
Half way there I flashed someone because they had their brights on, and that killed my low beams. Only my high beams would work, and only if I kept the lever pulled. So the rest of the way I was the one blinding people, one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on the high beam lever.

Not too big of a deal, made it there and back.
Not my truck sat for a few days and I went to start it and when I turned the key it just made a click sound. I figured the battery got drained somehow and just hooked it up to the charger. But it's still doing the same thing, a click sound when I turn the key.
Doesn't try to turn over or anything, the battery seems to have plenty of power as I can still flash the brights and stuff. But no starting.

Any ideas?

 

how to the battery terminals look? if the starter clicks but won't turn over the starter is most likely not getting enough power or could be faulty. i would almost bet there it is a bad connection at the battery.

 

I agree with CW on the battery terminal cleaning to start with. Will it start if you jump it?

For the light problem it sounds like a bad switch.

 

Terminals are good, battery is fully charged. Tested it with a multimeter, tried jumping it, charging it overnight, nothing.

I was gonna try to just jump the starter, but I can't figure out where the starter is :/

 

Should be right behind the oil pan on the driver's side.

I would be looking at the starter relay and any wiring that goes to it.
Rodent may have made a meal there.

 

Yeah after that post I went back out and was able to see the starter but was unable to figure out how to jump it. I followed the wiring an didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Not sure which one is the starter relay though.

Here's a video of what it does:

 

Should be a red (hot) wire and a black (neg.) wire coming off it.
Not much difference between the way starters are wired really.

 

actually i think there should be the big red wire and a small brown wire going to the starter. you touch a piece of metal between them would be the same as hitting the key but it sounds like things are working but your not getting enough power to turn the engine or the starter is bad. how does the ground wire look? could try running a jumper cable from the positive post to the large post on the starter.

 

There is no ground wire coming off or going to the starter.


There are two wires on the start 1 large one from the battery - make certain you have a good clean connection and it should have 12-volts showing at all times.

The second wire goes to the starter relay. Put your test light or meter on this terminal - it should show no voltage. Have someone try and crank the engine over and see if you get 12 volts then.

If you get power when someone is trying to start it then your problem is probably the starter\ solenoid. If you get no power then you need to check the wiring back to the relay and verify that the relay is being energized when the key is turned to start.


A couple other thoughts; did you have the clutch pressed in when you tried to start it? Do you have another battery you can try?