[shemp01]

So, took battery and alternator, and they both checked out fine at Autozone (after they charged my battery). My positive cable was pretty corroded, although not horrible, but I bought a replacement end anyway since one of the wires was a bit fried (from the smoked insulation). Hooked it all up and it started great. I assumed that perhaps a high resistance connection to the positive terminal caused heating and that was what smoked the wire. Of course it was strange that it all failed so suddenly....

This morning the truck was totally dead again!

So I must have a parasitic draw (something draining the battery).

Is the best way to test for this to take the ground cable off the battery and start using a test bulb between a fuse and the neg terminal and go through all the fuses?

I assume even with a totally dead battery that it should now jumpstart fine right? Don't want to smoke any wires again....