Truck intermittently won't start. Troubleshooting

So, Ol' Stonewall is at it again, making me want to smash my head repeatedly against a brick wall. Like this guy -> This time, the issue is that he sometimes doesn't want to start. Sometimes- most of the time- he runs fine. No problems, nothing whatsoever.
And then there are times (Four times in the past week) that Stonewall decides he doesn't want to start. When this happens, there is no click, no anything. I will turn the key in the ignition to start the truck, and my dash lights will pop on for a fraction of a second before everything turns off, including the dome light. When this happens, absolutely nothing works, NOT EVEN HEADLIGHTS. Stonewall did this for the first time this past weekend. I had gone out to dinner with a friend, and when we came out, Stonewall decided he wasn't going to start. Jiggled the battery cables, and he started. The second time it happened, (two days later) I was at the gas station. I went to start the truck up after gassing it, and it wouldn't start. I dicked around under the hood for like fifteen minutes. Terminals were secure, but a small amount of corrosion on the positive terminal, so I cleaned it with a brush. Tightened the belt to the alternator because it was a tad too loose for my liking. All fuses seemed to be in good order, at least by sight. Truck still wouldn't start. A guy came up and asked if I needed help, and I asked him if he would try to jump the truck, just to see if it worked. The battery is only a year and a half old, so I didn't figure it would do anything, unless it was my alternator acting up. I grabbed my cables and we hooked up. Stonewall started right up.
So I went on my way, parking at my buddy Robert's house. I was going to have him take a look at it, but he got an emergency call from work, so he had to go. When I went to leave, the truck decided not to start. I walked to my buddy Tim's, which is in the same court, and asked him for a jump. He brought his truck over and parked next to mine. Before hooking up, I told him to check and see if my headlights were coming on at all when I turned the key. They were not coming on at all. Complete lack of power to everything. So we jumped it, and eventually, Stonewall decided to start. I ran up to Advance to use their alternator tester, but they had just closed. So I tried a simple test to check the alternator. With the truck running, I disconnected the positive battery cable, and the truck still ran. Even turned on headlights, radio, dome light, and put it in drive, and the truck stayed running. So the alternator must be okay.

So here's a breakdown of this giant paragraph of crazy:

• Truck intermittently won't start.
• NOTHING will power on when truck decides it won't start.
• Alternator seems to be fine.
• Battery is still "new," and was even tested.
• Can't be ignition, because if that were the problem, I'd still have headlights.
• Fuses appear to be fine.
• Battery terminals are clean and tight.
• When truck DOES start, there is no hesitation to start or weakness of lights.

I may have forgotten to mention something. If someone brings it up, I'll add it to the list.
Anybody have any ideas as to what kind of a gremlin I'm chasing? It's really starting to get frustrating.

Please and thanks.

 

Bad battery cable or ground strap?
Could have internal corrosion under the insulation. Have someone hold the key in the start position, and start wiggling the larger cables, one at a time.

 

I'm gonna guess ignition switch but I could be wrong.

 

I was wondering that too, and that's why I had Tim check the headlights. They weren't coming on at all either. If it were ignition, I'd still have headlights, unless I'm very much mistaken.

 

if everything electrical goes out, it has to be the main battery cable, main ground, or the battery terminals. Otherwise some light or something would turn on.

 

Grounds and terminals are definitely good, but I'll recheck the cables.

 

Sometimes it will be that the end of the cable is loose in the terminal connector, rather than the connector being loose on the battery post.

 

Certainly sounds like a ground problem. If NOTHING comes on, then the circuit is open all the way back at the main junction I bet. Have you checked where the fuse box in the engine compartment grounds? In the box itself?

 

Not yet, I'm out of light for the day.

 

My vote is a bad cell in the battery. Intermittant starting, makes me think this. Start cheap and easy and swap out the battery for a new one.

 

I had the same problem with an old Ranger. It was *always* the connection at the battery. I started carrying a terminal cleaning tool and 10mm wrench in the truck so I could clean it, get a connection, and go.

 

But battery isn't even two years old yet, and we put it on a tester that said it was perfectly fine.

Terminals are clean, I made sure of that. Took a wire brush to them.

 

An intermittant short between 2 cells in a battery will make it behave like its totally dead. Smack the side of the battery and break the short and the battery will work fine.

Batteries are subject ot short term failure, just like anything else. If its 2 yrs old, you should have a warrenty. It be great if you got it from Wal-Mart, their warrenty is awesome. Take the battery in and they swap the thing right then and there. They don't even test them.

 

What about the wire ends that go over the terminals?

 

The battery came from Advance. I wonder what their return policy is. Anyone ever return a battery to Advance that was over a year old?

They appear to be nice and clean as well, nice clean copper from what I can see of them.

 

The battery most likely has a warranty. Usually, the warranties for batteries are free replacement for some time period, then prorated for a longer time period. What those time periods are vary by battery manufacturer and model, but are published on Autozones website.

But, the battery will probably have to test bad on their machine for them to honor it. If it is the battery, and it's intermittent, you might have them test it several times (if it initially passes).

 

What engine? I ask because on my '99 w/V6, the diagnostic port that bolted to the driver side of the intake manifold was loose...Two wires were under the attaching bracket, ground wires, and it had random starting issues until I found them and lock-tighted the bolt on.

 

I am having a similar issue with my truck. The only thing is that I have a remote starter. If I turn the key to ACC and hit the remote starter it starts right up. If I try just the key I get nothing at all on the truck no door chime, headlights, although the airbG light comes on. If I do just the remote starter all lifhts come on it just makes no attempt to turn over untill I put the key in and turn to ACC

 

It's the 2.4. Baby four banger.

Sounds like that is an ignition issue. Best of luck, man.

 

Alternators can still act up, just went thru this on another vehicle.

A Napa rebuilt alternator would stop charging after 10 minutes. Had installed it in the Tracker last June along with a new battery. Apparently the rebuilt alternator had had enough after 6 months. Would throw a little 10 min charge in the batt when driving or idling ,then quit charging for the rest of the day while driving. The new battery could only take that for so long and would empty and cause the car to sputter to a stop.

Pulled the alternator and had it spun up, it checked out several times WHEN COLD. Regulator in the alternator was overheating after 10 min or so when installed and was headed for a complete fail.