Hello all,

This is my first post to the forum, so I hope I am following the established protoco. I am looking for some help.

Last night was driving around in the truck pulling my neighbors out of ditches. I live in Anchorage and yesterday we got 24" of heavy snowfall. At the end of April! Anyway I parked the truck, which was running great and this morning it is completely dead. I first suspected the auto starter, but the auto starter people said that if I put the key in the ignition and turned it on I should get ignition lights etc. I do not. I then checked the battery suspecting it might be dead. I put the charger on it and it said that it was ok. I have had the charger on it for 4 hours and when I got home, everything is still dead. Next I cleaned the battery terminals, nothing. I have found the main electrical fuse panel under the hood and all the fuses look ok. There are also a bunch of electrical relays, but they are just little black boxes and I am not sure how to test them.[/align] [/align] Truck is 95 Dodge Ram 2500 4WD with 5.9L fuel injected engine.[/align] [/align] If you have any ideas, let me know before I have to have it towed to a shop.[/align]
Thanks.

 

You're into quite a bit of troubleshooting for someone who doesn't know how to test a relay (no offence intended). However, judging by the fact that you have NOTHING being powered I'd double-check (with a voltmeter if possible) the main fuse inside the fusebox, and trace the wiring running from the battery into that box, as well as the battery ground cable. Do you have wiring diagrams? (just to make sure we have this straight, you get nothing at all...no headlights, no interior, no dinging with the key in, etc?

 

Thank you for your suggestions. I borrowed a voltmeter and immediately discovered the battery was dead. The charger was indicating that it was fully charged by the battery charger, but turns out the battery plates were warped, very slight bulge on the side of the battery that was obvious once it was removed. So a quick trip to NAPA and all is well.

 

good to hear you got it runnin.

we have the same truck, welcome to DF

 

Thanks, glad to have found the forum. As the truck gets older, I will probably be needing the help. Have to say I have owned the truck since new and it has had zero problems. Absolutely none.

 

That's...impressive. For any vehicle. If i go a week I'm happy...haha