94 K1500 starts then not

[1bad66]

I have a 94 K1500 and its been starting normally until today it cranked a couple times and stopped, after a few tries it wouldnt crank. Thought it was battery, starter, alt problem. I got a jump but it took a bit for it to crank enough to start. So I assumed it was battery. After getting home I shut it off and retarted it and it started normally. I went ahead and put a charge on it for a couple hours. From the time it started to charge the charge indicator showed it didnt need charged. After charging it started but it took several extra cranks, seemed weak. Replaced Battery, starter new within 12 months. At that time the truck sat a few weeks and battery just died, though its sat before and had no problems. Anyway, there is a new rattle sound coming from alternator area of motor. A metal, rattly tingy sound that comes and goes. I am wondering if the alternator is draining the battery or may have a bad connection at starter, alternator, though everything looked clean and solid.
I havent done anything with it yet, but wanted a suggestion on where to start(no pun intended).
I was going to take it to Autozone to test the battery/alt with jumper cables in tow.
Any suggestions will help.
Thank you

[j cAT]

the battery will get drained by a defective alternator diode. when these fail they have low resistance and then suck down the battery.

with the engine off and the battery ground removed then remove the red output alternator wire. then hook up the battery ground see if you get current flow from alternator and the red output wire . if you do this is a defective alternator diode.

load test the fully charged battery. make sure all cables are clean and are not corroded. this age the wires get high resistance if not keep from corrosive chemicals. make sure all grounds are clean and secure.

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by 1bad66

I have a 94 K1500 and its been starting normally until today it cranked a couple times and stopped, after a few tries it wouldnt crank. Thought it was battery, starter, alt problem. I got a jump but it took a bit for it to crank enough to start. So I assumed it was battery. After getting home I shut it off and retarted it and it started normally. I went ahead and put a charge on it for a couple hours. From the time it started to charge the charge indicator showed it didnt need charged. After charging it started but it took several extra cranks, seemed weak. Replaced Battery, starter new within 12 months. At that time the truck sat a few weeks and battery just died, though its sat before and had no problems. Anyway, there is a new rattle sound coming from alternator area of motor. A metal, rattly tingy sound that comes and goes. I am wondering if the alternator is draining the battery or may have a bad connection at starter, alternator, though everything looked clean and solid.
I havent done anything with it yet, but wanted a suggestion on where to start(no pun intended).
I was going to take it to Autozone to test the battery/alt with jumper cables in tow.
Any suggestions will help.
Thank you

one other check is the starter connections ALL. I have found the solenoid to starter armature connection loose on NEW starters. so make sure all a secure.

REMOVE GROUND TO BATTERY FIRST !