My 72 is dead...

[matthew.mcmullin]

So I took my 12 year old son out into the orchard to let him have a little fun trying to drive the truck around. It was his first time driving a standard. We were having a ball until he had to stop and forgot to push in the clutch.

When we went to start it again it was dead.... No power anywhere. Hooked up the jumper cables and still nothing.

Any ideas on where I should start?

Thanks

[tubbedII]

Check the cables from the battery...if you're not getting power anywhere, I would think something came loose or is severly corroded.

[hugger6933]

X2 check the grounds and are'nt you waiting a little long to let your son drive? He is 12 after all. Great times I miss them a lot with my kids

[mr48chev]

Check those and check the wire that goes from the junction stud by the battery across the core support and around into the cab. There is a fuseable link or should be one right close to the battery and that may have blown or battery acid may have eaten the connection on it like it did on mine a while back.

If you have a good test light test across the battery posts to make sure the battery is charged. Then check from the + post to a good ground on the engine to see if you have a circuit there. keep testing until you find where the power stops. It may just be a loose cable as TubbedII said as quite often they will jar loose.

A volt meter can tell you if you have a big voltage drop in the line due to a resistance like corroded terminals or a corroded connection too.

[oldblue1968chevy]

i was going WOT throttle bounching thru the field a few years ago in my grandmaws original 53 chevy, broke the taililight and learned to shift 3spd

Id start with grounds to

[matthew.mcmullin]

He's driven before but only the automatic. This was his first real test. I'll check the grounds and stuff.

Thanks

[domeier]

Orchards are full of trees. You are a BRAVE man!

[CC69Rat]

Regardless -- let him help you fix it if you know what I mean.

X4 (?) on the ground situation .. were you guys bouncing around pretty good? When you hit the starter it won't even grunt? Dead cell in the battery maybe? Maybe pull the battery and take it by Autozone (or similar) and have them check it for you.

[Lee H]

Also check the main harness connection at the fire wall.
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[matthew.mcmullin]

Thanks for the suggestions... There was a fuseable link on a small wire from the battery that must feed the main power to the fuse box. My son paid the $4.00 to replace it and now we can go give it another shot. He wasn't going fast enough to hit any trees but he certainly likes to talk about it.

[domeier]

I had a battery cable corrode completely through inside the clamp. It was the type shown below, where you can't see the cable-to-terminal connection. Give your cables a good tug and see if one of 'em doesn't come apart.