EFFIN GREMLINS

So Wolfman05 told me he cleaned his throttle body today and Icould come up and knock mine out along with some other little bs things to knock out since the wifey is outta town and I was bored. Fast forward to completion; I start my truck and it is idling ridiculously high (2 Grand). In gear it was sitting at 1500rpm and again going to 2000rpm in park/neutral. Shut it off and see if we missed something and check the butterfly valve. All looked good so we wanted to see if it was stuck open when I started the truck. Turned the key (without the air tube from URD TCAI hooked up to the throttle body) and nothing. Everything just went black and no power at all to anything. Chilled for awhile and nothing still, beep still going when the door was open and light turned on but would not even turn over or click at all (For the record, I left my rear door open for a long time and noticed around the time we were finishing the dome light had turned off).

Next, we hooked up the jumper cables for about 15min and nothing; still dead as hell and would maybe click two times. They were smaller diameter wires however and when I used my cables it started right up. So we took a ride to make sure shit was good. Driving and things are okay. Mashed it and things were still good til we hit some dirt and I saw my fogs flickering in the dust. When we stopped they were fine unitl I would rev the truck and they would start to flicker until they killed everything but the truck (since it was running before, just like it stalled??). Kept them off and was heading home when I flashed my brights (while my ipod was running) and the truck completely stalled again but since I was moving started up, beeped, and needles reset. Truck was running fine except for that and got me home about 25mi away, even stopped for some food.

When I parked my truck, I tested everything again. With the fogs on; they flickered and cut off electrical to the cab at about 3000rpm. Then I switched over to my Ipod and flashed my high beams. Again the truck stalled but kept running and elec/needles reset. So I shut off the truck to bring the babies inside and wouldn't you know it, no juice whatsoever, had to manually lock the doors. Truck wouldn't turn over again or even click. We're pulling the batt and alt tomorrow to bench test but could there be anything else? Would the big 3 help? These are my mods:
URD TCAI
URD Maf Cal
Metra indash Ipod kit-(airbag light is on too, happened before when I was painting my radio face before the kit)
Egay HIDs gen 2. (Driver side light burnt out and the "eyebrow" light is like a yellow instead of half yellow/half blue)
DDM H10 HID fogs with fog light anytime mod

No other mods to elec system and there have been no problems whatsoever before until I assume unplugging the butterfly control sensor. Wolfman05's alt went out at 76,xxx mi and mine has 74,xxx. Is it coincidence? Any other ideas?

 

Bump. Anyone?

 

Sounds to me like you're going to have to hire someone from NASA to solve this! Sorry.

 

Your battery is screwed and it's just timing that it happened then. You put a high drain on it as you where working on the truck.

You could put the battery on charge overnight and it that problem might go away for awhile but it will return sure enough.

 

get your battery and alternator checked, low or dirty power could cause weird things.
thats all I got for ya

 

UPDATE: Checked batt, alt, and starter. When the truck was off, all gave a reading of 12-12.5V. When I turned the key over voltage dropped to 2 on all pieces

 

Lol Chris just PM'ed you, Thanks

 

Could it also be a shot battery if it starts up when jumped and runs like a champ once it's running? Even after driving it for approx. 30 mi and it just wouldn't take the charge from the alt?

 

If it's right dead it would take longer then that to even heat the battery up to start taking a charge. Take a hint, get a new battery before you screw up something. If you killed it in such a short time with such a minimum load it was on it's way out anyway. It's probably on the verge of shorting out on the bottom of the cells. That's what happens when they get old. Cause it's been not charged up properly for so long the metal on the plates start falling off and accumulating on the bottom of the battery shorting the plates out. They don't last forever. If you have killed it in the past that takes a deep toll on it that they never really recover from unless it's deep cycle.

 

Thanks for all the help gents, definitely some +1's coming. Wolfman put his batt in mine and it starts right up just fine. Bout to go test it to make sure along with alt and starter. Best battery? Aren't the Die Hards better than Optima?

 

Die Hard platinum is an Odyssey which is super good. Heard really good things coming back from both batteries. However I've also heard some real crap coming back from the optimas as well.

Not going to lie, over 3 years on my stock battery and it still takes it like a champ. I'm going to try to put in the same one if I can when it shits the bucket on me.

 

Thanks to all for your help. Did a system test at pep boys and alt and starter were good to go; just as you guys said it was a shot battery. Mine had 20cca No wonder. Now I gotta replace my HIDs but I'd rather that than a starter or alternator. Ended up just getting a Yellow top so here's hoping. Plus I got it done before the wifey got home!

 

I just got your PM...looks like I'm too late. I agree with everyone else, my first guess would have been a bad battery or regulator on the alternator. For future reference...

Batteries don't like to be deep discharged and it causes permanent damage. If you do it enough times, it'll kill the battery quicker than if it was never discharged. Also, a battery that is in a low state of charge takes much longer to recharge, possibly on the order of hours. You'll have to drive it that long or keep a battery charger connected up all night.

The major indication that it was your battery is because you had voltage when there was no load (i.e. the truck was off). The moment you tried to crank it, the voltage went to essentially zero. This indicates that voltage is present at the battery, but its capacity is shot, which is what gives you the "cold cranking amps" spec.

Glad all is well, good luck...