97 Blazer several problems (long)

97 Blazer LS,4.3,4wd,AT.hope I can explain the problems I'm having good enough for some help.went out to a dead battery yesterday,checked cables,tight and clean but did notice the ground cable was warm to the touch knew that wasn't right so I checked all the grounds I could find all seem tight,put jumper cables on didn't help still wouldn't turn over or even click,gauges,radio,interior light was real dim,took both cables off and had some arcing on both of them when I put them back on,without the jumper cables on turned on switch had gauges,radio,it started but turned pretty slow and didn't want to idle right off but smooth out and ran fine,shut it off tried it again it click once but wouldn't turn over and didn't have gauges or nothing again,turned the switch to assy. position and the radio and interior lights came on.took gound cable off to see if it was still arcing it wasn't,waited about 20 second tried again and it was arcing,went ahead and put it on,turned the switch on again and had gauges ect.tried to start it again one click and everything was dead again.checked starter wires,tight,took ground cable off again did the same as before no arcing at first but after awhile arcing again,left it on and turned switch to on had gauges and interior lights,tried to start it same as before,killed gauges, lights.sorry for the long post.Thanks to anyone that can help.David403

First thing I would do is measure the battery voltage at the battery terminals. If you can't do that, try a different battery and tell us what your voltmeter on the dash reads with truck running.

Sounds to me like a bad connection somewhere.

Another possibility is the dreaded Ignition Switch Failure.

Quite common on '97s, do a search and find hundreds of posts on the subject.

Could it be the solenoid?? I'm not sure if these truck use them but that's kind of what it sounds like.

Could be an ignition switch with a dead short.

Also, take the battery out of the truck and properly charge it if it is that low.

Your alternator is not meant to chanrge a completely dead battery.

Also, how long did you keep the jumper wires on for? It will take close to 5-10 minutes for a dead battery to charge up to a point of starting a vehicle.

the battery I've got has top and side post on it,so I made up another gound wire from the top post to the alt. bracket and it solved the problem.Sure want to thank you guys for the help,this is one great forum.