Ok so I've been doing little touch ups on my 1997 dodge ram ss/t, tune up radiator flush etc. But today I went out to my truck before work to start it and it just clicked and died as if there was a bad connection to the battery, I had just installed two new terminals and battery I fairly new, I tightened up the terminals anyways and am positive there is connection now, but turn the key over now and nothing, no lights, no gauges, cel, or anything. Not even a sound when trying to crank, I figure some kind of relay maybe? They looked good when I checked though. PLEASE help.

 

if you heard just a click the first time it usually means your battery is dead, but now that you say it wont even light up the instrument panel, then im positive. If the battery has a charge and your still getting a tick then your starter is not engaging. if you turn the key and it cranks but does not start thats the sign of a bad fuel pump usually. Check the battery level, and obviously make sure you didnt mix up positive and negative when you installed new terminals.

 

I'm positive the terminals are good, been set up for weeks now. The grounds all look good too, and before the instrument panel quit coming on completely it was showing my voltage to be right around 14 where it usually is.

 

Nothing changes if I put the key in the ignition and try to crank it at all. Besides being able to put the shifter in nuetral etc. With the key in on position, never heard of anything like this.

 

yes but have you tested that battery good sir?

 

Will do tomorrow just to be sure. Just seems odd to completely die out of the blue like that. I've also been trying to reset my pcm by doing all sorts of suggestions all week so that might have something to do with something going out in sure. Tried disconnecting negative overnight, then key in on position for 30 seconds, trying to start it 3 times, hitting the horn brakes etc to try and drain capacitor's but nothing would shut my cel off. Know the actual way of doing so?

 

Are you saying that just because it has been setup for weeks, that proves that the terminals are good?

What does a "good" ground "look" like?

Your gauge draws very little to no current, and only shows voltage (potential)... put a load on the circuit and voltage will drop way off if the connection is bad.

I had perfectly clean looking terminals (with electrical grease), that felt snug on the posts, but still had poor cranking for a day or two, followed by the "click, click", and nothing.
The clamps had stretched and started to split from the bottom up... what was left still had enough grip on the post to feel snug, but the contact area was next to nothing, and not capable of allowing a current draw sufficient to work anything.
New clamps and all was well.

Point being; a visual inspection is no guarantee of a good connection, and it can be very deceptive/misleading... and just because something was setup and worked last week (or yesterday) is not a guarantee that it is good today.

Over tightened clamps (especially the cheap soft ones) will do it.

 

sometimes it varies on what your check engine light is for? what is it for? usually to reset the computer you just need to pull the negative off and get in the truck and turn the key a few times for a minute and itll drain all the power. or you could find a parts shop to reset it for you with a scan tool. i use my hemifever tuner to do so myself or my bluetooth obd2 plugin for the app on my phone does it as well.

 

The cel has been since I bought the truck for evap, found that the charcoal canister was bad, all kinds of pellets in the line going to the purge valve, just bypassed the charcal canister and plugged the vacuum coming from the throttle body to the purge valve, so the cel is always on because of that. Just wanted to reset it after tune up radiator flush thermostat change and what not. And I twisted on and played with the terminals watching the hood light to see if it would flutter on for a second if it caught connection, but nothing.

 

The grounds just looked pretty fair of corrosion is what i meant. Played with them a little too for connection but didnt have much time had to get to my sons check up. My truck had been running weird for a while losing torque and running like crap until it hit its 195 temperature of operation. I figured the camshaft position sensor was going out by a wild guess. If it went completely out i dont think it would cause EVERYTHING to not work though. So im leaning towards the battery, or some kind of relay..