Neighbors friends car was acting like yours in the driveway. Key would turn, no lights and could not move shifter to put into neutral....it was stuck in park.
Tried to jump with my truck.....after 30 minutes nothing
Tried to use my antigravity jump pack......nothing
Called tow truck. He tried to ump with his truck....nothing
Used his jump pack that he said was almost dead, commenting over and over that there is no way this will work but it is a last resort.....fired right up and everything worked.
Weird the engine wouldn't jump off the jump stud. At least on my van the battery cable goes to the starter so you might take a look at that connection point as well.
Definately look at all the connections, but I've had a lot of trouble with jumper cables. Even high end new ones. Not long ago my neighbor need some and I gave him a set I had never used. He connected them and ran the other truck for at least 15 minutes with no luck. It wasn't until he found another older set that he finally got it started. Another time, jumper cables wouldn't start the other vehicle, but when the tow truck driver arrived his little portable unit did. The very small contact area that results from the teeth on the clamp may be part of the reason, but I've had this happen several times with different sets. Doesn't make sense to me.
Oh I here ya AT. I guess what bothers me is on all the diesels I've used at work (and we're hard on the batteries) that usually the second battery will allow the engine to show a labored attempt to crank. It rare when both batteries go at once and the only times I see a dead nothing start situation is if the vehicle has sat for a long time (no charge to the batteries) or there is a bad connection. My winch on my work truck failed me in the field once doing the same nothingness and after calling for a tow, 2 pissed off hours later back at the shop I pulled the frame ground and tightened it down...bam, it started working Connection looked fine...no corrosion, and was tight so sometimes you just got to follow it all out and check all the connection even though they look fine. I always do what's easiest right off the bat cause I'm lazy and the headlight trick Herb mentioned is usually the first thing. Pulling the batteries on side rail mounts is a PITA but hey it should be done on an annual basis anyway...I just pay people to do it these days
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2006 Ford 6.0PSD EB-50/E-PH SMB 4X4 Rock Crawler Trailer
Since i got the van the lights on the dash for the gauges have been dim and at night i cant really see what is going on with them. I always just assumed that the bulb was dim or out. Coukd this be related to a bad cable?
Since i got the van the lights on the dash for the gauges have been dim and at night i cant really see what is going on with them. I always just assumed that the bulb was dim or out. Coukd this be related to a bad cable?
Probably not. Only because your FICM would have surely taken a dump if your voltage were low enough to dim the dash lights.
You're aware the headlight know is also a dash light dimmer? Counterclockwise = brighter. When it clicks, that also turns on the courtesy lights.
Sportsmobile (AKA Money Pit)
Connection looked fine...no corrosion, and was tight so sometimes you just got to follow it all out and check all the connection even though they look fine. I always do what's easiest right off the bat cause I'm lazy and the headlight trick Herb mentioned is usually the first thing. Pulling the batteries on side rail mounts is a PITA but hey it should be done on an annual basis anyway...I just pay people to do it these days 
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