I'll test the yellow wire in a little while, I have to get a little work done before I can work on that. I already replaced the ignition switch. Wouldn't the fix for no power to the yellow wire be to replace the ignition switch? What else could cause that if I don't have power to the yellow wire? I'm just trying to plan ahead a little by asking, it just seems the new switch would have fixed that problem already.

 

Thanks, I'll test the ground on 85 and then try the wire to the battery. It'll be about an hour or so before I can do that but I'll post my results as soon as I can.

 

The trick is, to find out WHERE you are losing power. There is a jumper in that yellow wire for what on a manual trans truck, would be the clutch switch. Maybe that fell out?

 

Where do I look for it?

I'll try all of this stuff in about an hour and post my results as soon as I can. I need to get a little work done first but I really appreciate all the help. Thank you

 

It'll be under the dash area, near the pedal hangar.

 

Thanks I have an OBD II tester, is it worth trying that? I didn't try it because I've been disconnecting the battery so I thought the codes would've been reset. Plus I don't know if it'll even work if I can't start the truck, it's been a while since I used it so I don't remember.

 

I jumped the relay from 86 to the battery and the truck started right up! Now I know the starter is good and I'm not getting power to the relay box. I also had power to the yellow wire from the ignition switch when I turned the key but I don't see a jumper. I don't know what I'm looking for and there's a lot of yellow wires down there, a lot of I can't really see all of them.

I found a mess of wires under the dash when I removed the plastic cover under the steering column so I'm going to try tracing all these wires that look like they were added. There's a box that dropped down that says keyless entry module that doesn't look stock. I bought the truck used about 6 years ago and never had a key fob. There's also what looks like a speaker mounted near the floor behind the brake pedal that also doesn't look stock and it looks like the wires to it were cut and they're just hanging. I'm going to try to add pictures, maybe someone can tell me if all of these wires connected together in the first picture are normal or if something was added.

Thank you!

 

Yeah, that's aftermarket..... The jumper *should* just be a wire across a two pin connector. It may be taped to something else though, making it fun to find.

 

I was going through all those wires trying to figure out what they all went to and get them cleaned up. I reached up and turned the key once in a while and all of a sudden the truck started right up. It looks like I have a bad connection or broken wire somewhere in that mess. I'm going to leave the wire in the starter relay for now so if it won't start again at least I won't get stranded, I can just jump the relay again. Hopefully I'll be able to find the right wire in that mess and fix it permanently.

Thanks a lot for all the help from everyone, I really appreciate the time you took to answer my questions and help.