I know.. I messed something up.
Ever since I bought this ranger a couple years ago, I have fought corroded battery terminal/cables. Always cranked kinda half heartedly even with a new battery.

This Saturday I clipped back all exposed wire and soldered new connectors to each wire. All appropriately sized. Heat shrink and all. Cranked up faster than I'd ever heard it crank. Then I drove it to work Monday, again cranked great. Went to leave work and nothing. And by nothing I mean NOTHING. no dash lights, no dome light, no headlights, no power to the always on jack, nothing. Battery reads 12.7v and is fully charged. No clicks on turn key. Literally nothing.

I double checked all my new connections, all solid. Checked my grounds, all looked just fine, brushed a few up anyway. I marked all wires with tape before I disconnected them from the old terminal, all were black and red anyway, so I know I got them back where they go.

Edit: my key has also been being a little funky, not turning with the metal wing things. Hasn't caused an issue thus far besides having to make sure the metal wing things are aligned before pulling the key.

Any ideas? Did the better battery connection fry something? What would cause absolute loss of power to all vehicle components? I'm at a loss

Thanks

 

Welcome to the forum

No you didn't fry anything

One of your battery cables is disconnected
On the positive terminal there should be 2 wires, the larger wire goes to starter motor, its ONLY for starter motor, has no connection to anything else
The smaller wire supplies ALL the 12volt power for the whole vehicle, it runs to a larger post on the Starter Relay, mounted on inner fender
This post also has Alternator's main wire, and the OUT to engine fuse box wire<<< this wire supplies all 12v power from battery to engine fuse box, and engine fuse box supplies all 12v power to ignition switch and cab fuse box

Battery positive-------------starter relay post------------------engine fuse box>>>>>>all electrical power


Vehicles use 12 volt DC, for 12volts to exist there must be 0 volts(called negative on battery or Ground)
So having 12volt wires is required but they don't work for power unless there is also a good connection to Battery Negative terminal, a good ground
The larger wire on Battery Negative usually goes to a mounting bolt on starter motor, so its connected to engine and transmission METAL, this is the main ground for the 12volts
But it can also be connected on engine block
Needs to be a good CLEAN bare metal connection, no oil or grease

The smaller negative terminal wires go to Body metal and frame metal, these are for the lights, horn, relays, ect....
And there is also a Ground Strap/wire, that runs from engine to Firewall, usually on the back of drivers side head on V6, this is the main ground for Cab electrics
The engine and transmission sit on RUBBER mounts, so that main ground cable would be isolated without this cab ground wire
The cab sits on rubber mounts as well, and all body parts are painted, so it is also isolated from body and frame grounds, so needs a good ground via strap or wire

You can also check the 40 and 60amp fuses in Engine Fuse Box, one is for ignition switch, others are for cab fuse box