The other day I blew a fuse while driving, the guages that were not working started working, ie the fuel guage and the others quit, ie the oil pressure and voltmeter. The next day I was driving to town and I lost most all power, lights were dimming and such. I pulled into a gas station and shut it off, it would not start, I had to jump it. I replaced the battery and the alternator and I ran for about a day and a half. When driving home it sounded like I was running out of gas and the power and lights started going out again. The truck died. We jumped it and it ran about a mile, now it will not start even though the starter turn over when you try to jump it, its almost like there is not fuel getting to the carborator. The new battery is also dead now.
Lghts dimming , discharging batteries, etc. makes me suspect a faulty alternator and/or wiring connections: battery to alternator, battery to starter, ground connections. (Yes I know you said you had the alternator replaced)
This needs a loaded charging system test to help locate the fault.
What is the year and mileage?
This truck is a 1991 chevy 1500 with about 200,000 miles.
How do you conduct a load charging system test, especially since I have a new battery that seems to be mostly dead?
Many auto part stores will do the test free. They generally do a good job. at least as far as their test can do and their test usually is enough.If you put in a new and fully charged battery and it dies very shorly thereafter, there must be a serious short somewhere that’s sucking out the power big time.
A full load test may be difficult due to the sudden discharge so perhaps do a bench test on each component in hopes of finding the culprit.
Loose or dirty electrical connections will cause major problems.
This truck being a '91 and subject to different atmospherical conditions, it may be wise to thoroughly check that the engine is properly grounded to the chassis too.
I have a feeling this truck has been well looked after over the years. Am I right?
You might look at the fusible links. Get a wiring diagram first. And a battery is just a bucket that can be filled with electricity. Once all the electricity is poured out it will be empty regardless how new it is. If the fusible link that turns the alternator on or the link that carries the alternator output to the battery is burned out the alternator ceases to do its job regardless how new it is.
At lot of charging system designs in vehicles depend upon the battery warning light to be functional in order for the charging system to work. Power is supplied to the field windings of the alternator through the warning light that is in series with the circuit. If power doesn’t make it to the field windings the alternator won’t work. Since you say that the new battery worked ok for a while it appears the alternator isn’t working for the reason stated or something else like the main output fuse is blown as Red Knox stated. Either way, the battery won’t get charged.
It would be interesting to know what gauges started working after a particular fuse blew out. That might indicate there is a grounding problem in the dash area possibly.
I believe that I have fixed the electrical issues as related to the killing of the battery and the alternator after repairing some wiring issues. However, yesterday we moved the truck and it fired up, after a few minutes it died and now it will not start at all. There is plenty of fuel getting to the carborator and the starter is spinning like crazy, yet still it does not start. Please any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks
If you haven’t made sure the ignition system is working then I suggest you check that along with the fuses to make sure none have blown out. If those things look ok then the next step may be to check the compression and make sure that is ok. From the way it died it sounds like the trouble may be electrical and a fuse has blown out, possibly for the ignition area.
Thanks to all that replied, I finally found out why it would not start. The trucks distributor was out. The gear had moved and therefore it would fire correctly, hence it not starting. Again thank you for all the leads, they allowed me to rule out multiple solutions. Have a Happy New Year.
Carburetor??? It should have a TBI injection system…When it quits or fails to start, check fuel line PRESSURE…It must have 15 or 20 PSI at the throttle body…The pump is located inside the fuel tank, connected to the fuel lines by silicone rubber flex-lines that after 20 years, tend to split open and leak, dropping fuel pressure to the point the engine stalls…