so confused.. again
 

I am humbly asking those of you who know more then I.

Brand new battery - Dead, recharged at advance for 4 hours- fully charged.
Alternator tested and passed 3 times in a row.
Brand new battery terminals

Hooked everything up and I have no power.. no lights, no dash, nothing. Bought a multi meter, tested my fuses. All are good, none drawing excess power. Tested my battery by removing the negative terminal, its dead. AGAIN. After I brought it home from advance and hooked it up. Thats all I did and it was instantly dead. I tested my grounds, they are all good and sturdy. No corrosion or rust on them.

There is literally no power to the truck at all. NOTHING works in it. I took the battery back to advance and exchanged it for another one since its still under warranty, brought the battery home and still I got no power.

What the flog is going on?? This is frustrating me way to much right now. Help please. ideas, throw them at me. Even the most ridiculous ones, I want them all. I need my truck running by monday.

Sounds like you have a Dead Short....most likely in your Starter solenoid seeing you tested at the fuse box...on my '93 I have 3 separate wires connected to the positive of the battery....yours anything like that?? can you separate the wires at the + battery and only hook up the one going to the junction box on the firewall...leave the starter motor & alternator wire off.....turn the key on...maybe you have inside & outside lights...check the battery with the voltmeter....if all stays good then its the starter soleniod...process of elimination maybe?? just a thought...

Does SOUND like a dead short,,, And yet there weren't sparks when you connected the terminals?

That dead a short will melt wires. test your tester

hmm how many threads did you start on this problem ? :icon_no:

trace the wires see if you got any exposed wires touching the frame to drain the battery

Another place I found was an issue was the ground under the fuse box on the fenderwell under the hood. Lots of problems when that one is disconnected. Only thing is that somethings will work, but main power for the starter, fuel pump, headlights etc won't work.
From everything being dead almost instantly I'd start at the starter, starter relay because they have for the most part direct power from the + on the battery. Could be an isolator washer on the starter grounding out.

I do have those 3 wires on my + terminal, I also have 3 wires on my - terminal.
If my eyes did not deceive me, the main wire on the + terminal connected either to the frame or the block. Then the alternator and starter wires. The starter never once entered my mind. That is definitely something i will look into after work tmw since its to dark now to see anything.

I had absolutely no spark of any kind when I re-hooked the battery. My tester was brand new fresh out the pack. How do I test my tester?

I don't know, I went crazy with it yesterday. I think i made 2 topics for this problem in this section and possibly the 2nd gen section. Just wanted answers as fast as possible. I traced them all yesterday before posting. That was the first thing I thought of, maybe I tore a wire somewhere, but i found all wires to be in pristine shape.

I searched all over under my hood, in both my books (haynes and owners manual) and online; the only fuses or fuse box i have is the one in my dash. I have 3 relays on my firewall but those are all for my a/c (according to my haynes manual). Starter relay, starter. I'll pull it off tomorrow and take it to advance to get it all tested.

Thanks for all the ideas. Gives me more hope for the truck now. Sorry bout making more then one topic. I just panicked and wanted answers as fast as possible.

Sorry I haven't said anything bout this lately. I been working 12-14 hour days and haven't had time this past week. But I did search other forums, found the fusible link could be blown?

What do you think? Could my fusible link to the starter of blown out on me without me realizing it? If so, where exactly is it on the truck? What does it look like? I read somewhere that if it can look fine from the outside, but internally it could be blown.

it should be on the pos cable from the battery the way i think of it

Nothing on the positive (+) terminal should be touching the frame or block. You must be talking about the negative side.

My best guess would be the starter or ignition switch, but check the voltage on the battery after you hook it up. Not Implying your ignorant here, but be sure the terminals are hooked up correctly. Wiggle the ignition switch with the key in it, see if you can get some lights to flicker or something. Check the voltage on the battery when you turn the key forward (but not start).
Browse over the wires from the pos (+) terminal to the starter to make sure there isn't any rub wear, then follow it to the ignition.

I did trace the wires, nothing was messed up or out of place. I charged my battery overnight so it would have a decent charge to it by the morning. I checked the charger, it said it it was full so I unhooked it and took my starter down to Advance to get it tested. It came back okay.. not great, not decent.. but okay. It failed 1 out of 4 tests which im not even sure how that would happen. If it failed 1 then why didn't it fail all 4. Anyway.. after I hooked it back up, I tested the battery again and again the battery was dead. And I was gone maybe 2 to 3 hours tops. I immediately checked my fuses again, they were all good and none were drawing the excess power.

So im either looking at a blown fusible link, dead short or my ignition switch again right?