Mr. Pickles

*deletes post* holy isht, batman Had about 17 things going at once last night, saw he hit on the "car" section of their site rather than truck and couldn't find. Redirected, didn't look further, I'm a jackass. Well, you're used to that from me, at least. lol

"Blame Can-ada, blame Can-ada..."

How much are those? They look ok, I run some PIAA driving lights too, so no problemo. On a side note, there are posts out there about using relays on the the headlight circuit to draw more power to the headlights, you might try searching around. 88 started a thread a while back, check THIS out.

*taps Casey.T on the shoulder, points up*

Wait, that's just for that, without an alignment? Yikes! Skip the stealership.

Do you wheel or plan on wheeling your truck? If its a pavement pounder, knock yourself out. If you do plan to use it, and you can't afford to replace stuff, then you probably shouldn't be messing around with lifting it, cause you'll be replacing stuff sooner or later.

Yep, yep, and the leak should be a cheap fix. If its a really slow leak and a shop can't find it, maybe new valve stems and/or a can of Fix A Flat could solve it.

Ditto above. Does it track straight down the road?

There wasn't a terrible amount of "how to" involved, more like trial and error (and trial and error, and re-trial and error, and cussing, then a beer, repeat...). The final solution was to tap into the Black/Yellow stripe wire at the ignition (see lovely Paint pic above), then run a jumper down the column, under the dash, and through the firewall. The wire to the solenoid has a plug next to the battery, but if you unplug it and look in, its just 2 regular "spades" like any do-it-yourselfer would use. So, I just plugged said jumper in there, along with a seperate jumper to the other spade to connect it with the old plug. Actually, I'm not even sure what the 2nd wire is at this point, and its cold, wet and nasty outside. This will get me for now, good 'nuff. On a side note, this has defeated the clutch/"Interlock" button feature to start the truck, obviously because I tapped in before that circuit. Not a big deal, just a heads up if anybody tries it. Neutral is your friend, remember driver's ed?

I noticed some extra lean after the trip, then found one busted up bracket, but the other looked ok. Replaced, drove, then found the other fubar'd as well. Grrr. Its noticably sloppy with it busted compared to being firm before, cause I swapped out most of the front suspension bushings for poly a while back.

Congrats on the replacement. You're lucky, when mine went, the truck was all but non-drivable. It simply would not idle at all, and barely ran under throttle. Had no garage and lived in a townhouse where the HOA nazi's threw a fit, so I had to pay like $500 I think to have it done. Good job.

I voted suspension/steering problems, but that's really #2. #1: ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS! That's been my only reoccurring and consistent issues for as long as I've owned this thing. Just came in tonight from finishing rewiring the whole starting system.

Dealer or junkyard (inspect it first!). Yep, bent/broke both brackets on the last trail run. Oops...

Good call, this was the ticket, and the last thing remaining that could possibly be the issue. I ran a bypass from the ignition switch to the harness plug next to the battery, then continued on from there stock to the solenoid (once it was verified) so the only hack is at the switch. It fired right up on the first try. Thanks And thanks for the re-suggestion of checking this wire. Yeah, near as I can figure, there must be a loose connection, frayed/worn spot, etc. somewhere along the line. It read 12+v on that wire down at the connector for the solenoid, but it seems it couldn't carry enough current or something I guess, which seems odd to me cause there shouldn't be much draw required for that, right? Anyways, it works, and that's all that matters to me at this point. Waking up an hour and a half early to take the wife so I can keep her car, well, that blows!

Here is a link to the thread from when I installed mine, and there is some good stuff there. I linked to some sites that were really helpful with a bunch of pics.

Ditto, and its pretty straight-forward to install too.

Sorry, that's what I meant by the wire to the solenoid, the small one that plugs in under that little metal sheild on top. Yes, it fires a test light when the ignition is turned on, and read over 12v on the meter. I had read that there was no relay on a manual tranny truck, but could be mistaken. In any event, yes, there is juice there.

Ok, back at it, this thing is starting to annoy me. Been busy out of town, work, and sick. Anyways, here's where I'm at. Full battery Solenoid: power to it is fine, a bit over 12V IIRC at the plug at the starter when the ignition is turned Replaced both + & - battery cables just in case, and they test fine Starter removed again and bench tested both at Autozone and under my hood with jumpers, works fine Connections cleaned Under dash fuses checked (not sure which if any under hood, but with the power good at the starter, that shouldn't be a problem, right? So, I'm suspecting K9sar's suggestion, gonna look for his post. I've pulled the column apart, and one reason I'm suspecting this is, I was just in there about a month ago replacing the headlight switch, so maybe something got buggered up. This is the view of the back of the ignition (respect mah Paint skillz!) The connections tested as follows: Off: White/Red 12.33 volts (constant power) Everything else... nothing Acc: White/Red 12.12 Black/Yellow nothing Black/White 0.02 Black/Green -0.01 Blue 12.07 On: White/Red 11.99 Black/Yellow nothing Black/White 11.95 Black/Green -0.01 Blue 11.91 Ignition on: White/Red 12.05 Black/Yellow 12.05 Black/White 11.86 Black/Green 12.05 Blue 0.03 Just posting this in case anybody has a clue or has any tests up their sleeves. I've just got my basic Haynes manual, so I'm about to trace out these wires and scratch my head a bit. *insert wild ideas here*

*reliving very recent rides in my grandpa's Ford Model T's...* As far as I know, you are not required to have turn signals at all. Turn signals came later on. (Remember those hand signals in driver's ED? ) What about old motorcylces? It comes down to the old rigs being grandfathered in, so the newer rules had to give. From what I've hear, this only flies (hand signals) in daytime hours around here (for obvious reasons!). Just a thought...

Or, just go to you local do-it-yourself carwash, and use their carpet/upholstery shampoo equipment. Yay!

With the stock amps, most anything aftermarket will sound ok. The question is, do you want to *crank* it? If not, off you go. If so, it doesn't have to be expensive. I'd suggest not using the "hi-power" aftermarket stereo's power, but that's up to you, and it should be ok for normal radio listening. I'd go with a decent aftermarket stereo, anything from Pioneer, Kenwood, or Alpine, up to Sony and Eclipse or better. I'd strongly suggest you bypass the stock amps if you plan any sort of serious cranking, or subwoofer, and such. A basic 4 channel amp will work, especially those that allow a full system plus a sub on a seperate amp. You can match many head units with amps, and can pick and choose components. If its on their dime, I'd let the shop deal with it, and if you have any thoughts about maybe upgrading, ask them to leave a long set of RCA jacks for subs or something down the line, as well as a remote wire.

Ok, this is getting F'ing retarded for a no-start situation. Pulled, re-did/replaced the + cable harness. All + connections are clean, clear, brand new, and good to go. Check. Power is good. Starter is reinstalled. *nothing* What the F. Tomorrow the starter is going back to Autozone to get tested, and I'll probably replace the Neg cable just because. Sorry for the delay, I've been down with a cold for a bit.

Not sure of teh "a.I-something box" you're referring to. But don't jump to the super bad conclusions just yet. Start from the basics. Any codes? Drain the coolant, screen it, and re-install. Obviously you've already had issues there, its worth a shot. T-stat may be new, but maybe its defective or something simple like that. Rare, but its happened. The dipstick burnt you? That could be scary if there's a leak/blow by and steam, etc., but lets not go there yet. If the oil is clean, I'd move on and check the rest first before suspecting a head issue. Patience, grasshoppa. *pot calling the kettle black*

Cool, thanks. Yeah, I'm sure their starters aren't great, as the one I pulled (1 year old rebuild) as well as the crap replacement failed their test, and even tripped the circuit breaker in their store. LOL, they had to run back to the panel and flip the breaker! Anyways, I'll end up with a 9mo. old battery, new starter, and new cables, my recently installed oil filter relocation kit to keep the oil and crud out of the starter in the first place. Should be good to go. Sheesh. Picked up the + cable for now, along with a brass monster terminal I've had for stereo and accessory hook-ups. The Neg one will follow, hopefully in multiples from the block and body to the battery. I'd be at it, but now I've (and the wife) managed to pick up a pretty decent cold and fever, and its getting chilly in the evening with on and off drizzle rain outside. Welcome to fall. So, Saturday is the target day, assuming I'm functional by then. Then its time to replace the outer CV boots both sides, the passenger frame mount for the sway bar (mangled the driver's one, this one might be able to be bent back), tie rod ends (sitting on a shelf), maybe install the headers before it gets too cold... sheesh. This has been an interesting summer.