HELP!!!! Truck won't start

[Cruizin64]

So....I did a lil minor tune up on the truck....new spark plugs new wires new oil....was given a battery a guy in my car club wasnt using....went and got it tested and charged and they said it was good....today I plugged and attached everything back together....when I went and put the key in to crank it over....NOTHING....so now Im stuck....

Imma be honest and admit what lil I do know about what Im doing is what I have learned here and there....so any advice would be much appreciated....

THANKS GUYS!!!!

[Budman56]

if when you turn the key and nothing come on, (radio, light) with no clicking sound, then your cables might not be hooked up correctly or not tight enough. if instead the started clicks then your battery is dead.

[Cruizin64]

ANY POSSIBLE CHANCE....it could be the battery terminals? I replaced them too....

[Slow Build]

This may be a long shot but it happened to me a few months ago. In my case I had done nothing to the truck. I thought at first it was a dead battery but it was fully charged. What I eventually found was the a wire going into the connector going into the firewall above the distibutor had gotten frayed and broken. The wires go to the ignition switch and such. I just fixed the wires and it started right up. I could be that when you routed the new spark plug wires it may have pulled one of those wires lose. Good luck.

[Budman56]

first things first, do the light on the truck come on?

[Cruizin64]

Slow build: THANKS! I'll have to look into that....

Budman56: Nope! Nothing comes on....no lights nothing....and when I just went out to the truck to try to wiggle this and wiggle that....see if anything would work....I noticed that when I disconnected and reconnected the battery cables....when the terminals would come in contact with the battery....I wouldn't get any sparks....maybe bad wires now?

[Clyde65]

maybe dead battery? where is your other battery? try that.

[Clyde65]

try jumping the truck with a charger/jump box.

[Born Lucky]

I think you should start with the battery,then work your way up the connector etc etc. Electrical things are strange at times!
I put my bet on the battery!

[Cruizin64]

Clyde65: the other battery I know was dead....plus I was gonna replace that one anyways....but I'll take it to get charged....try that one....and if all else fails I'll try jumping it....

[awbrown]

Is there a red wire that goes on the battery with the positive terminal ?? without this wire(should be red ) nothing will work ,it should cross from the drivers side near the radiator , go across the radiator support and end up by the battery...

[PGSigns]

You can take that battery to most any parts store and they will test it for free.
Jimmy

[Budman56]

Make sure when they test it they put a load on it, or it won't test right.
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[Scot_Douglas]

Originally Posted by awbrown

Is there a red wire that goes on the battery with the positive terminal ?? without this wire(should be red ) nothing will work ,it should cross from the drivers side near the radiator , go across the radiator support and end up by the battery...

Good call!

This got me when I was a new owner.

[Clyde65]

Good luck man, I know it's frustrating.

[Cruizin64]

Man if it isn't one thing its another....got the truck to crank over but now i think my alternator is going out and i got a leak in my oil pressure line!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Clyde65]

welcome to old trucks my friend.

[Cruizin64]

First off I would like to thank all of you that put in your input to help me with the lil problem I had....but I am PROUD to say SHE'S ALIVE!!!! ) I took her around the block a few times....now the only thing I need is to get new head lights and get into the turn signal switch and figure out whats wrong with that....but again I just wanna say thanks again guys!

[Slow Build]

We need details.
What was wrong?
How did you fix it?

[Cruizin64]

Originally Posted by awbrown

Is there a red wire that goes on the battery with the positive terminal ?? without this wire(should be red ) nothing will work ,it should cross from the drivers side near the radiator , go across the radiator support and end up by the battery...

^^^^ Well it started with this....^^^^

after hooking that up to the battery....when i would try to crank it over it would go but it sounded like it was slowly dying....after thinking it was my battery....i tested it....it was fine....tested the alternator....fine....my neighbor helped me out and finding the electrical problem....the owner before the owner i bought it from....hooked up another ignition switch that did not belong to the truck....well the way they hooked it up was by tying ground, acc, and the ign wires together on the ign the sol. wire on the ground and the battery to the battery....IT WAS A NIGHTMARE!!!! Thank god i had a the proper ignition switch....but it was a big nightmare trying to find which wire was which....finally got it together....and now....starts right up!

[protrash64]

Congrats on getting it running. My experience tells me you may have a few more rats nests hiding in there!! Before looking at the turn signals I would just pop for a new switch assembly and be done with it. I have found them broken and JB welded etc. I have also not been able to use new replacement parts with old assemblies for some reason. good luck.

[Cruizin64]

Thanks protrash64! A friend told me to just replace the whole thing so thing thats the route imma go with....