I installed a NEW ground cable on my truck some time ago. Shortly afterwards, I started having starting problems.. indicating a dead battery. Since the battery was 7 years old, I put in a new one.. problem solved, for about 2 weeks, then back to the same problem.
The Solenoid would click and the entire electrical system would die. No volts except at the battery. 5 minutes later, the power would magically come back on!! WTH? The new Battery would often read 10 volts or less after a starting attempt. I pulled the battery and put a long slow charge on it and had the FLAPS put a load test on it... good battery.
I pulled the starter and found a cracked solenoid cap... new starter.. same problem.. WTH?
I put on an extra ground cable from the engine block to the frame to the back of the external (drof type) solenoid... same problem...
I pulled out the battery again, to install a known good battery... same problem. WTH?
While I'm messing with the batteries, I noticed that the battery ground cable was a bit loose in the socket... continuity is good from the (neg) battery post to ground... same problem...
I got the wild idea to put a jumper cable on the negative post to the frame ground...
Truck started right up...
