I have a 1996 6 cyl. While running it will just die - no power no elctrical (no lights,horn, key alarm - nothing). I attached a test lamp to the pos and neg battery post and it came back to life. Started fine - no powere issues ran for 10 mins or so then died again??? Any ideas where to start on this one?

 

maybe u got a loose wire or a short. trace all ur wires from battery to ground an to alt. see if any or loose connections or grounding out any where it's not suppose to.

sure some one with more info will post, but for now try that.

 

clean your battery connections. both battery posts and both wire ends. then take off and clean the wire ends at the power junction box, red plastic box on the passenger side fenderwell by the battery. then u should see a ground junction there to cleam them also. see if that helps.

 

if none of that works id take the alt. off nd go up to autozone they'll test it for free

 

but the battery is strong?

 

so have u cleaned the connections?

 

The Battery posts are Clean and Shinny - Battery never goes dead - just the entire electrical system shuts down.
Also not throwing any error codes. Leads to alternator, plastic box and post on fender also cleaned. Any ideas where else to go?

 

if its not in the junction box then get the test light out and start checking the wires that come off the box and see if power is comming out of it. look for fuseable links and check any u can find. the fuseable link or bad wire is the only thing i can find so far.

 

could it be the battery itself?

 

if u have a volt meter check the voltage. should be 12 to 12.5 if its charged up. did u wire brush the battery connections and the battery wire ends that connect to the battery. sometimes a layer of stuff gets on there and it looks clean but the layer of carbon or whatever obstructs the current sometimes it will connect and sometimes not. anyways check the battery voltage that should tell u a little more. if nothing else put it in a car u know is working and see what happens. i dont see how it could be the ignition switch if the lights and everything goes off. it sure seems like it would have to be a bad wire, bad connection or a fuseable link. they are lumps in the wire and are black on the 8s and red on the 6s. to check u need a test light or volt meter with a sharp point that will poke threw the wire cover, test on each side of the link to be sure power is getting threw the fuse.