98 Express 3500 Occasional Total Loss Of Electrical Power

[WayneMann]

Hi Guys,

You guys helped me with a fuel pressure problem on this van several months ago. It has 366,000 miles and the other day it just quit, for no apparent reason. After it quit my wife called me and said that it was making a clicking noise under the dash and that she had no power to anything. I drove to meet her and when I got there I noticed that the door buzzer was working and she said that it must have just started back working. I stuck the key in the switch and it fired right up. I drove it home and have been driving it around local for a few days with no problems. Then tonight we get in to go feed the horses and when I went to start the van....nothing. I pulled the key out and about five seconds later I hear a rather loud clicking sound coming from underneath the dash, somewhere near the steering column. I have a cell phone charger that stays plugged up in the one cigarette lighter that stays hot all the time and I noticed that it had power to it, but everything else is dead.

So does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance for your help. This forum provides a great service and I hope that everyone here appreciates it as much as I do.

[MT-2500]

Go to the fuse boxes and check all fuses and power feeds.
Also make sure battery is full charge/voltage and cabels ar good.
MT

[WayneMann]

Thanks for the reply MT,

I went out this morning to see if the van would start, but it was still dead. The clicking noise is actually coming from under the dash on the passenger side. I will check all power connections and fuses.

[Ole Sparky]

Sounds like bad battery terminals or cables. Bad terminals don't always look bad, and they are very cheap to replace.