Ups and Downs of old truck ownership, real story.

[WorkinLonghorn]

I had just finished correcting 3 long time problems that I lived with all year because of how crazy busy I have been working.
The starter has been intermittent and became non-op when hot so I got a new solenoid and fixed the loose and crappy wiring EXCEPT they wanted $30+ for a battery-to-starter cable, so I just wrapped the old one with electrical tape and reinstalled it. Worked great!!! Finally! No "click...click...click every time I needed to start and I was working in an orchard where it's pretty hard to push start this 5300 Lb truck by myself.
Then I "fixed" the electrical gremlin that was causing it to backfire and shut off for a few seconds at a time. Was the wire that goes into the HEI, there is no snap-in connector, just a force fit that gravity finally made to come loose.
THEN I somehow "fixed" the leaking gas at the sender opening and also got the gauge working again!!!! Must have been a bad ground there and the o-ring was not sealing properly.

So I was going through my wallet and left my "lucky" $2 bill on my desk. (Huge mistake hehe). Proceeded to break a big piece off of a back tooth eating crunchy bacon. Go in my truck and was on my way to a distant job and I was so happy to have all of these things "fixed" that I actually shouted out a sort of "YEEHAAAAA!" as I drove along the 134.

2 miles later the engine dies totally and I was lucky to find a spot to park on a surface street just off the freeway. The battery-to-starter cable had grounded against the ex-manifold I guess and was smoking. I went to move it and it snapped like a twig (4Gauge wire!) . Battery was toast and after pushing this rig 4 times I couldn't get it to start and there were no lights or anything working. AAA towed it home 10 miles+ and I took the battery back to COSTCO and they replaced it for $2 even though it was 2 years old! I wasn't going to argue. Then I got a cable next door down at a Pep Boys auto parts for $8. Now working again and I feel good once more. Until the next thing breaks that is. -BA