1994 Nissan Hardbody Electrical help

[solo2zx2]

This morning on my 1994 hardbody all the electrical is dead inside the cab. I got in this morning, turned the ignition, lights on the dash and stereo turned on. When i pushed in the clutch and turned the key to start, everything inside the cab went dead. Even the cab light doesnt turn on when i open the door. The battery is still strong, and the headlight, tail lights, and hazards work. But once again when i try to turn on anything inside the cab, or turn the key to ON there is nothing.

Any suggestions? Thanks for your help.

[Rev_D21]

Main fuse under the hood maybe?

[ib4200]

mine did this a few times, the battery cable was only loose

[mrecoolgar]

What he said.
I've seen it many times.
Remove, clean, use dielectric grease and install both.

[Novajoe]

does it still crank the car over while its like this?

[solo2zx2]

okay i replaced the main fuse relay under the hood. still nothing

checked the battery cables, still tightly connected. still need to be clean.

And the motor wont turn over because there is no electrical power to anything inside the cab.

Battery still has a good charge and the headlights are still very bright when turned on. they are the only thing that seems to have power at this time. No other lights or anything electrical seems to work.

Any other suggestions?

[Novajoe]

what about smaller wire connectors coming off of the battery? How do those look?

A major failure like that it's gotta be something close to the battery side of the circuit.

Are you in the woods? does your car sit outside? I've seen mice and stuff get into cars before and chew the wires all to hell. Hopefully that's not the problem, but it would be worth looking over.

[solo2zx2]

im gonna look through the wires and clean the terminals toady. And ya the truck sits outside but at an apartment complex. It sat at my work for 6 days while i was out on location but ran fine when i drove home.

[mrecoolgar]

Don't check the battery cables... remove them, clean them, dielectric grease then reattach !

[PhillyHardbody]

Clean where your negative battery cable attaches to the frame/body, its common on all cars for this to corrode or get dirty so it just sparks when you try to run enough amperage through it to start the car.

[solo2zx2]

So I cleaned and redid the terminals and still nothing. Went through most the wiring and haven't found anything yet. The confusing part is why the headlights still work but the nothing else does. Not even the hazards which are supposed to always work.

[mrecoolgar]

May be the ignition switch then.
Try moving and wiggling it.

[seang]

There are multiple ground straps going from the engine/transmission to the body. One of them goes from the back of the head to the firewall, one of them goes from the starter mounting bolt to the bottom of the floorboard, and I think there is another one going from the transmission to the bottom of the cab (maybe others?) These are braided metal, and I thought they were stainless but mine were still deteriorated, so I cleaned the contact points and replaced the old straps with new ones. Before I had done this, I replaced my starter and alternator to no avail, but then everything started working again after I fixed the ground straps. I can't say for sure that it is your problem, but given the amount of current that flows through these parts (spent spark energy, spent starter energy, etc...), it just makes sense to me that ground straps are an absolutely essential, but often overlooked element in any car.

There is another strap going from the windshield wiper motor to the hood hinge. I cleaned those contact points, too, while I was at it.

Lots of good suggestions in this thread, and it seems you are on the right track. Do let us know when you get it figured out!