I spent some time looking on the web, but have not found anyone who has had a similar scenario to me.

Here are my symptoms.

I turn the key to start the truck. As the key turns to the ACC the dash board lights up, and everything looks good, but the second the key hits the "start" section all power is lost to the car. No clicks, not nothing. zero power in the car. Pushing that black button on the firewall in the engine compartment does nothing. What does work, is disconnecting the battery then reconnecting it. (I have a quick disconnect / connect fitted). . .so this is as simple as turning a **** a few turns then back. Once I have done this the care fires right up and will be fine for a month or so. Then it happens again. It's happened like 10 times over the course of my ownership. Not a big deal because I know how to resolve it. But I would still like to understand why this is happening.

Now for the odd thing.

I have an ultra gauge installed to monitor engine temps. When the power is lost, I noticed that the power still works to the ultra gauge so the ECU still has power and the ultra gauge is attempting to scan for the profile. Not sure if the ultra gauge is part of the problem or not.

-Jon

 

Check your sitting battery voltage is at 12.6VDC. Charge or replace as needed.
Check all of your battery cables for corrosion and or loose connections.

 

I've had a few D2's do a similar thing when the battery was weak, or the terminals were trashed. Dash lights would come on, then total blackout. Checked the battery or terminals and it would fire right up after fixing either of those.

Only other thing which is kinda wild but D2's aren't getting any younger would be the switch which connects to the back of the ignition and then runs to the fuse box under the driver's kick panel. I have seen a few RRC/D1 units act up.

 

Check all your grounds too, there are 10 or so under the hood. Next time it happens before doing anything else check your battery voltage, and rather that undoing the disconnect make sure it actually tight, then try starting

 

Thanks for the responses. Battery checks out fine (only a few months old). All under the hood grounds were checked and cleaned when I did the head gaskets, battery terminals are clean and tight.

Those were all the things I thought off when this started happening (before the head job). So when I did the head job I made sure I went after all that.

I was wondering if there could be an ignition switch issue that causes a short or a thermal fuse to trip, which only resets when you remove power to the car completely? ...

 

Perhaps the quick disconnect is part of the problem and disconnecting/reconnecting it is remedying the poor connection across it.

 

Good point. I will check it and add some dielectric grease to it.