I have an old chevy truck and it wont start it started fine one day and didnt start the next?

Question

I went to start my truck the day after i moved it from my old house after sitting for a few months and i turned the key and it wouldnt start not even a click or anything no headlights or anything come on i put a new battery in it and replaced the alternator and i checked all my connections and everthing looked good.i think it might be the ignition switch what do you guys think?

Answer 1

double check the battery connections, after that the ignition switch could be to blame. jumper the starter and see if you get a response from it. if you do , then the switch is bad or a neutral safety switch is bad or out of adjustment.  

Answer 2

it could be the ignition switch, or a fusible link, the cables might be dirty or loose at the starter. you can turn the headlights on without turning the key on. how old is the truck? the reason i ask is because the older chevys had a small junction box on the firewall, with a big red wire hooked to it, if it goes bad, you won,t have nothing.

Answer 3

that sounds like the problem

Answer 4

Old Chevy's used a fuse mounted on the firewall, but no headlights would mean that power is not getting out of the battery, check the battery  wires  at both ends,unhook battery and crawl under the motor and remove and clean the the ,cables ground should be on the engine ,and hot goes to the solenoid, ok ,there are 2 smaller wires remove and clean those also. My bet is on the ground cable but you are down there and already dirty.

Answer 5

Your headlights would come on even if your ignition was bad. It has to be somewherein your cable connection.

Answer 6

check the ground cable, at both ends.  it may look o k but still not make contact.  it happens a lot.

Answer 7

  Part of the story is missing, like after you replaced the battery, did you then have lights or any indication the baattery was good ?

  If not then there are other things to check, such as cables as mentioned by another poster, possible a blown in-line fuse, bad ground.

For the life of me I cannot figure why so many people automatically replace or blame  ignition faults on the alternator, as it's only function is to charge the battery when the engine is running and has nothing actually to do with running or starting.