Ok so long story ... I thought the alternator was going bad on the truck so I picked up a brand new one from napa. Went out to start the truck this morning and the batteries were dead .. ok so alternator is deffinitally shot. I threw the 6 amp charger on the truck and walked the mile to work. When I got home 12 hours later I swapped out the old alternator for the new one and tried to start the truck. The engine wouldnt turn over at all, all it did was click. Checked the batteries and they were partially charged .. should have been more than enough to turn over the engine. Tried the key again and noticed the 'wait to start' light didnt come on. Then I noticed the fuel gauge didnt read at all. Slowly all the gauge warning lights came on and the odometer slowly began to flash. What the heck did I fry with the slow charger/what the heck is going on???

 

Could be a major current draw. Remove both grounds and see if they charge up. If not, one battery is either low on water or past it's prime, and it's sucking the other down. 6 amps at 12 hours, they should of been fully charged.

 

The fact that the grid heater doesnt even try to kick on while having power makes me think that there is a fuse or relay somewhere that isnt working .. but I cant find a burned out fuse or relay anywhere.

 

One or both batteries is shot. Had this happen to an old truck of ours. One battery was shot and wrecked havoc on everything else.

 

Look at one of the batteries being shorted out. If one is dead, it'll draw down the other. Charge them both separately, then load test them. Find out which one, if either, is crapped out.

 

ok .... still dont think it is the batteries ... I used a screwdriver to arc between the solenoid and starter and the truck cranked like normal.

 

Fried/damaged PCM??

 

Batteries were completely charged this morning and I still got nothing. Did another once over looking for loose/broken electrical connections and cant find anything.

I dont understand what could be causing the gauges to not work at all and for the odometer to blink at me while the key is on.

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I was reading on another forum that a guy fixed an almost identical problem by replacing the crank position sensor .. thought I would give that a try and see what happens.

 

Finally tracked down the location of the crank position sensor .. disconnected it and the gauges came back to life .. tried the key and the fuel shut off snapped up. Arced across the starter and the engine fired up. Thanks to everyone that offered up ideas.

 

Sounds good. Going to close the thread.