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99 Express won't start - any help?

Hi, I have a 99 Express cargo van, 305 V-8, 112K miles. This morning when I was went out to go to work, it didn't start - dead battery was my thought, so I had the neighbor jump me. Let it idle for about 1/2 hour after I got to work. I turned it off, then back on, and it started no problem. 4 hours later, it get in to go back home and it went "tick tick tick tick" with no turnover. The ticking was in the dash, not at the starter. I thought battery again and went and got my charger. Now here's the part that might have screwed me - I left the battery hooked up when I put the charger on it. Now I get the gauges come on then I put the key in and turn it to "On", but when I turn it to "Start", everything goes dead and not a sound is heard from the motor.

Any thoughts? Did I fry the computer with the charger? Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated!

Thanks, Tom

Reply to
Tom Elliot
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Same happened on mine. You have corrosion on the positive battery cable/terminal connection. Take the positive terminal off. It has 2 cables attached. One of the cables feeds the starter, the other feeds everything else. Split the rubber boot and separate the terminals and spacer washer. There will likely be a lot of corrosion here. Wire brush everything good and soak in baking soda solution, then wire brush it again. Once you have bright metal, reassemble the terminals, washer, and bolt. Now there are two schools of thought here for what to do next. One says to coat the terminals with vaseline to inhibit corrosion. The other says to coat the terminals with an insulating rubber compound that you can brush on. I have used the vaseline solution with great success. Be carefull around the battery after this, as there is an exposed 12 volt source.

KenG

Tom Elliot wrote:

Reply to
KENG

Thanks Ken! Going out to try it right now!

Tom

KENG wrote:

Reply to
Tom Elliot

Ken, Worked like a charm! Best of all, didn't cost me a dime :-) Actually, I didn't remove all the rubber, just the part that was impeding the contact. If it happens again, then I'll get a little more aggressive with the razor.

Thanks aga>

Reply to
Tom Elliot

Reply to
KENG

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