94 Jimmy SLE won't start

[rwb22]

Son replaced the starter, bendix was bad. Started up, and the small ground wire that goes from the ground at the battery toward the headlight area burnt off. He replaced this wire, restarted it without any problem. Later drove it home and when he shut the truck off, the horn started blowing and wouldn't stop. He took off the ground at the battery. I went out days later and reconnected the ground and the small wire (again) at the battery. The horn didn't blow so I tried starting it. The starter turn over and it attempted to start but died. I tried again but it won't start. Starter cranks the engine just fine, but I noticed that all the interior lights, radio and such is not getting enough power as if the battery is dead. I also noticed that the fuel pump didn't pumpup to pressure. I am assuming this is a ground issue "somewhere". Any ideas as to where to start looking? The starter still seems to turn the engine over very well too!

[DelCoch]

Sounds like you have an electrical short, as the small negative ground wire on the battery should not burn up. I would check the large battery cable going to the starter and also the wiring harness that contains the horn wire. Check the battery to see if it's fully charged and then check to see if it's drawing any current when the key is on, but engine off. Also check to see if you have any fusable links blown and if so trace the wire to find the short.

Let us know what you find, as it will help others.

[94 Jimmy]

Check any wires removed during the starter change. Check the main ground wire, make sure it's tight and that you havent left any others off. Bad grounds can cause a lot of problems in a car. A friend had a problem in his GM van, when he turned on the right blinker the dome light would flash, we found a bad ground wire.
Remember any current leaving the battery has to return via the ground wire, if its to small (like the big one is open) it will burn up. If heavy currents are flowing in a small wire it will cause a voltage drop along that wire which will be seen as low battery voltage somewhere in the circuits.
I think you have a bad connection somewhere, make sure the motor is grounded to the frame and that the negative terminal from the battery has a good connection to the frame also.
good luck
94