Magic3200 , Today 11:13 AM
So I'm 17 and I bought a 97 ram 1500, a good strong truck. I drove it home from work no problem one night and I left my headlights on all night like an idiot and had to jump it the next day. It jumped fine and I moved it outta the way of my dads pickup so he could go to work, but once I get ready for school it wont turn over. The gauges wont turn on, no radio, the only thing that shows power is the 12 volt interior port that has been changed to a USB port. I've checked my fuses and non that I can see are burnt and my battery is new and also has been checked. The only thing I havent checked isn't battery cables and the terminals and my ground that's booted to my frame l. Could it be anything else?? Maybe I should go back through the fuses

 

Define "the battery has been checked". If you only ran it for a couple of minutes to move it out of the way the battery is not going to be charged enough. Put the battery on a charger, ignore the USB thingie because it only needs 5V to work.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I agree

 

It was a brand new battery my dad had bought and we had taken it to Autozone where we bought it and they said it was a good battery, that it didn't have a bad cell

 

Did you leave it run long enough to charge or put it on a battery charger? I really don't have faith in Autozone or Walmart. Try jump starting it, or take the cables off the battery and hook jumper cables to them to see if all your lights come on. I'm betting it just needs to be charged. You could try taking both ends of the battery cables off and cleaning them. I guess the other possibility is a bad cable from the battery to the PDC (power distribution center).

It's that short cable.

It goes to the black box behind the battery, the PDC. I got a battery with top and side terminals so I could make new battery cables. I couldn't find an original with the two cables coming out of it.


There might also be a main fuse inside the PDC. I don't remember for sure.

 

You drained the battery by leaving the lights on. It needs to be recharged. Jump it and go for a drive for an hour or so, or put a charger on it. Also clean all the terminals and connections.

 

When you clean the connections, coat them with a film of dielectric grease to prevent future corrosion issues. Especially since you drained it all the way. Automotive batteries don't like that. Deep cells are designed for it. Regular batteries are not. Your battery will out gas some due to the deep discharge and the dielectric grease will prevent problems.

 

I come with an update: it was my terminals! I switched them out last night and she turned over on the first try and I've been driving her all day today. I greatly appreciate all of you guys helping me and giving me a better idea of what was going on. Next time I run into an issue I'll definitely come back for advice!!