Any Ideals?

[Old Nash]

The battery and alt. were brand new. The truck battery was 8 yrs old and getting slow to crank and the bearing in alt. was noisy. The battery voltage is over 12 volts. I thought the new battery was bad and put another good battery on it and same results. I left one of the alt bolts out when I changed alt and left it on the breather when I washed engine. I removed the steering column plug to see if it was getting voltage(it was)and tried going across to wire that goes to starter and nothing. The truck is a 5sp and the starter is a pain in butt to remove with the hyd clutch on that side of tranny. I have never seen a starter/solenoid go bad without some warning signs but there is always a first time. If the dist or coil are bad the engine should at least crank.

[rutroe]

I'm fairly certain you should be seeing closer to 13.4 v or so on a good battery. One with less will probably power accessories but won't start the truck. I had the same issue a few months back...I would try to find the source of the drain...

[AKlowriderZ71]

Loose cable connection.

[Chevy-Art]

Loose cable connection.

Or corroded.

[Old Nash]

The new battery is 12.66 volts and the other 12.70 volts. I had cleaned all the connections and sprayed corrision remover before reconnecting everything. I ohmed out the cables and no problem there. The cables were checked many times for tightness. The truck ran fine before I changed the battery and alternator and never had a problem starting or charging before. It puzzle me why it started the first time with the new battery and then won't start now.