Could dead batteries cause a truck to shut down?

I just replaced the batteries on my C7 Cat, and yes it will cause it to shutdown. The only warning I had was the ABS light would stay on a few weeks prior, I would shut it down and restart it and the light would be off. Then they just died, would not turn it over at all. I jumped it and it would die on the way to to the shop.

 

Check for bad ECM ground or hot lead from the battery box. That will shut it down as well.

Hurst

 

Hell YES. Or Absolutely.

You generally either lose the alternator and 4 hours later your sitting there with a dead truck. In the old days without computers being fed 10 volts... you could run the old air breathers until the fuel pump and such stuff quits after the batteries give up a few more hours You already know you are not charging due to the voltmeter dropping steadly from 14 down towards 8 with the red light above showing nothing coming from alternator. I generally get 4 hours from batteries if I have to and did.

New alternator, jump kick that junk pile and poof back to work now. Youre late.

Now you can sure as hell cheat. You can strap a couple little gennies patch into the 12 volt studs back there behind the sleeper with 12 volt power from say a battery charger attached to a generator on the catwalk. Truck thinks nothing is wrong when you lose both the alt and batt. MAYBE. That is where a gennie on that frame and APU will come in. Valuable and worth having if I say so.

You can turn off everything to strip volts loading from your dying batteries to gain another half hour run by the moon. Shrugs.