Losing electrical

So I'm driving, lose all power, lights an all. I turn key off and on and every thing comes back on. Till yesterday it died again but this time i turn key on first click dash lights come on turn it more and click all power gone. Any ideas ??

 

Welcome to tw.
Sounds like a short in the ignition switch... how worn is the key?

 

Thanks. That was my first thought. How do i test it? I was thinking the problem is starter. I would very much appreciate any advice.

 

Very worn

 

I’ve seen this happen before. Could be loose battery terminals.

@eon_blue

 

Do you have a key ring that would make a janitor jelly?

That's usually the killer of ignition switches.

Miles on truck?

 

300k+ the key comes out in what ever position i want... Convenient, oh well. Thank you

 

Yeah I had a similar thing happen but it was the metal battery holder was loose and making contact with the terminals on the battery causing the whole truck to freak out and act like it was losing power intermittently

 

I would check your terminal connections to your battery. Same thing happened to me and that was the problem. They were a bit loose. Tightened them up and good to go.

 

You should certainly check the terminal connections as other suggest, especially since it's free.

But at 300k and with your description, my next step would be trying a fresh key, even though I think it will behave the same. Then a new ignition switch.

 

First i bought new pos-terminal. Its raining so i will have find out tomorrow. Thanks all

 

pull the lower knee panel off below the dash. There are 5 main wires. The white and white/red are fused from the engine compartment fuse panel. 3 different fuses, one large one and 2 smaller ones. There are 3 wires from the switch Black yellow a black and a black red... these only have power when the key is either on or in the crank position.

 

Replaced pos-terminal didn't hook in the starter lead. So acc works but run is off again. Is this a hard swap? Every thing else I've worked on has been a breeze.

 

Reconnected battery to starter now its beeping really fast. never heard it do this before.

 

Its the door chime its normally slow.
Anti-theft ??? Will it work to bipass ignition switch to test starter. I have a multimeter can anyone tell me how to test the ignition switch?

 

Every thing goes off when i turn to start then fast beeping starts. Ignition switch and new key or starter i just cant afford both. Any ideas ??

 

Turn key to start all power loss except door chime beeping faster. Never heard this before. Can i bipass the ignition to test starter? Anti-theft? Just cant afford a lot of parts.

 

A bad starter would not impact anything else electrical. It just wouldn't start.

Re-read post 10.

 

There's a short some where.

 

New battery and terminals seems to do the trick. Now the idle is barley 400. Going to try reset procedure for idle speed. Any tips? Thank you all for the responses