No electrical power on 86 m1028

[86Chev1028]

I've had my 86' m1028 now for about 6 months, it's my 1st diesel truck as well. I have a few questions and wonder if they are related.

The 1st being ever since I bought the truck, when I first start the truck, the battery gauge goes to where it's suppose to, right in the middle of the green. After a few seconds there is a click noise from somewhere betond teh dash and the gauge drops to teh yellow. A few seconds later, another click and right back to the green. It does this for about 3 cycles then all is fine. And when it drops to the yellow, one of the gen belts will squeal. Just wondering if this is normal???

Ok, now to the problem that happened today. I was driving it home when I noticed the battery gauge was right on the border of green and yellow. I was curious since it's always in the middle of the green. I got home, parked it and as I got out of the truck, I noticed a faint burning smell, I shrugged it off figuring it was my neighbor with their outdoor furnace. I went to use the truck later, I turned the ignition on and I have zero electrical power. I didn't get a chance to look at it at all yet since I was in a hurry to get to work, and jumped in my car and took that. So I was wondering if there is something like a fusible link or something that commonly burns out. I won't be able to get to it until the weekend and figured I'd ask the pool of knowledge on here incase it is a common problem.

Thanks in advance, and can't get enough of the site!

 

[Warthog]

Welcome to SteelSoldiers.

Make sure you visit the Cucv Wiki - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite (CUCV Wiki) that is at the top of the page on the CUCV Forum. All of the CUCV Technical Manuals are listed and many other helpful bits of information.
Download the manuals for reference. Also the wiring diagrams are in the appendix.

Also checkout the http://www.steelsoldiers.com/cucv/20600-faq-thread-cucvs.html stickey. It is where we try to post helpful tips and tricks.

Almost every question you will have has been asked and answered many times. The advanced search will become your best friend. Please don't hesitate to ask something that you can't find.
Read the TM 9-2320-289-10 Operators Manual to find out how a stock system should work. It is simular to the Operators Manual for Civilian vehicles. It tells you where all the lighs, switches, etc are located and what they do.

Now to your issues.

Your first symtom is normal. It is the GlowPlug Relay (GPR) cycling as normal. When the engine is cold the Glowplug controler card checks the tempature of the engine and will turn the glowplugs on and off for a short period of time. This draws a good deal of current from the charging system and the guage will show it.

The alternators may have been weak and not able to keep up with the demand.

Your second issue is a problem. You first need to make sure the batteries are fully charged, can take a load test and the battery terminals are clean and tight.

The TM 9-2320-289-20 manual has a great troubleshooting section to test the "no start" issue. There are many fusable links used in the engine compartment
and you will need to check to find the one that has fried.

You will need to tell us if the is no power at all (lights, horn, etc) or just no starting power.

 

[86Chev1028]

Thanks for the reply, I just got done with some tinkering on the truck. I tested both batteries, one was at 5 volts 2005 date), the other at .16 volts (2009). I then tested them with a floating ball battery tester, which they both had no floating balls.

I put two other fully charged batts in the truck, truck fires, battery gauge went to full green and all seemed fine. Both batteries are at about 14.5 volts when charging. So, I was hoping I just had a bad battery, but it alarms me that the two batteries died just like that.

Also I found two wires that burned their insulation off. These are two wires that go into the little fuse block by the glow plug relay, they didn't get hot when I just had it running.

So I guess my main question is if one battery died, is it possible it killed the other?? I am following the other post with the fella that seems like he is having a similar problem as well.