Woke up to a dead truck?

I recently removed some ditch light brackets and wiring, the brackets I had required cutting the rain tray some to fit. After doing this, I took some time to clean the underside of the hood with simple green/water solution, noticed that the water runoff dripped onto the tray. Proceeded to use water/rag to clean the engine cover, fuse box and other black plastics...making sure not to drench the parts, but to use a wet rag/some water. This morning my truck would not start. No electronics nothing....jumped the battery and it started immediately. Let the truck run for about 10 minutes. Turned it off and let it sit for about two hours so far and starts with no issue. Battery is a few years old but I've seen no sign of a bad battery up until this morning. Could I have gotten water somewhere it shouldn't have been in and it caused the truck to die overnight?

 

Could be any number of things. Go back and check everything you altered electronically. Make sure there are no parasitic drains and that nothing is abnormally hot. Then go have the battery checked.

 

I did remove an aux fuse box at the same time, noticed a lot of corrosion around the + terminal. Could the corrosion have an impact all of a sudden? I'll go back and make sure all those connections are tight again. But its weird that the car started within seconds with a pair of jumper cables..I've always seen cars struggle when starting while getting jumped.

 

Probably just a weak battery. Do you have a trickle charger? Charge it today and let it sit overnight, see if it starts again tomorrow morning and go from there

 

I agree with @Rock Lobster , check your connections that you were working with but the corrosion could be affecting the connection also. I would clean the corrosion off first, as it may be faster to check.

 

You said you removed lights, is there any left over wiring and is grounding out?
Put meter on batt “before starting”. What is the voltage? Then when it’s “running” what is the voltage. Should be around 14V. running
Not running should be around 12.3. 12.5V

then if not that. Got to parts store and have them check batt

 

I removed all the wiring, which was running to an aux fuse box in the engine bay. Removed the positive and negative leads and just re-tightened down the bolts...drove a few miles to run errands, got home started cleaning the engine bay and hadn't drove the truck since. Went to start it this morning and nothing...immediately after I hooked up the jumper cables 10 seconds later it started back up. I go out periodically to see if the dash light for the door turns on and everything is good so far.

I plan on taking it to the local parts store to test battery. Sadly I can't find my voltmeter...

 

My battery started doing that after it was dieing. I would say keep a eye on it.

 

First and foremost, clean and tightened the battery terminals.

 

So battery checked out fine, 100% charged etc. Starter tested and no issues present.

I bought a terminal cleaner, but the terminal itself is really stuck on there. Is there a safe way to clean this without taking the terminal off?

 

Loosen the nut on the terminal, work it back and forth and up and down. Get that off there and clean both terminals on the battery, as stated above, watch your battery closely when starting to notice it craping out.

 

Definitely tried working it...its pretty stuck. Can I safely spray something on there to loosen it up a bit?

 

That terminal looks like shit run over twice. Spray some fluid film on them to keep them fresh after you clean all the crusty stuff off.

 

Replace the terminal and wire wheel the 2 cable ends.
Cleaning that is a temp solution.
Once that is all done along with cleaning the neg terminal, have battery tested and check for a draw.

 

you need to replace the terminals once you get it removed. Pour some coke on there, loosen that nut and pry apart the gap where that bolt is with a flat head screwdriver. It should loosen enough to hand twist it off. Too rusted to try saving. Just go with new terminals to prevent future headaches.
I am a big fan of this, use it on all my vehicles.

 

Pretty much everything @Wattapunk said.

I'd completely remove the bolt and use a flathead or a pair battery terminal spreaders to loosen and remove the terminals.

 

Baking soda mixed in water works much better than Coke at cleaning batteries, it neutralizes acid, rinses off easily and leaves no sticky mess.
As far as protecting from corrosion use what you like, anything is better than nothing, I personally put a thin film of grease on the battery posts before installing the cables to keep the acid from wicking up and also give the battery a good rinse every oil change to prevent acid buildup on top.

 

Family is more geared towards drinking than baking so tend to have more coke available versus arm&hammer products.

 

Many people keep a box in their fridge for odor control.

I guess it works although not sure about it getting rid of the acid since it is an acid (baking soda is an alkaline) I've never tried it but I have had to clean up the sticky aftermath of other who have and didn't rinse it off

 

Damn a little maintenance way overdue.
Baking soda a water then replace and seal it.