Got my new 1998 burban home and it died

[Darstedly]

Hi guys. At last I picked up my new 1998 1500 and had a great time getting to know it as I drove through south London - the biggest car on the road. It was a dream to drive my dream. All was marvellous, and still is, but there is one fly in the ointment: I tried to start her up this evening and . . . nothing. Everything was fine until I turned the key to start. All the internal lights were on. The driver door open warning sounded and everything seemed normal then black silence. Followed by the sound of the CD player whirring and clicking noises under the dash. No internal lights and no central locking. All the fuses check out and all wiring seems in the right place. The light under the bonnet (yes hood in American) came on nice and bright. No problem with the battery. What is it? Any suggestions? Has it happened to you? Please give me any wisdom you have on this subject! After a while the the clicking stopped and the internal lights came back on. I was then able to use the remote to lock up but still no starting. The headlights worked on park at that point but not on full beam. I will call a mechanic in the morning but I'd hate to be charged to fix something simple. Please forgive me if you post a reply and I don't reply to you quickly - it's gone half past midnight here and I'm off to bed. Good night!

[tbplus10]

Since you checked the fuses the next step would be to check the battery connections, make sure theres no corrosion and you've got good contacts.
If the battery connections look good take a look at the alarm system.
I once bought a new (to me) truck that I kept having to disconnect and reconnect the battery because of a similiar situation, come to find out the valet switch on the alarm system had an issue that was causing the anti theft system to activate. I finally removed the alarm system and replaced it with a different system.

[dpscranton]

ok hopefully you know your way around a car pretty well ( no offense) there is a solenoid usually mounted on the wall of the engine compartment... there are two large studs on this solenoid and if you jump across them you should be able to bypass most other problems and send power straight to the starter and this will turn the motor over if this doesnt work than you most likely have a starter problem.

[Restlessone]

That sounds like a battery problem. Clean the battery connections and if that doesn't work get the battery load tested. After that I'd look at the charging system.

[Darstedly]

Thanks guys. I couldn't sleep so I'm reading this at 0415. I've looked at everything I could without making too much noise and waking everyone in the street. I checked out the manuals on the Ohio Public Library System too. Have you looked at those, they're great. Anyway, no corrosion or anything obvious. I'm impressed at how clean and well put together my burb is. There go all the sly comments about poor American build quality I've had directed at me over the years. I know the immobiliser has been disconnected and I'm pretty sure there either is no alarm or it has also been unhooked. I'll try the solenoid trick in daylight and see what happens. I remembered that the headlights seemed dim on the way over here. Didn't trigger any alarms as it was our first time in the beast - maybe the battery is not getting a full charge. Do cars have regulator rectifiers like motorbikes? I've had those go on me in the past with very similar symptoms.

ps Wrote this before seeing the last post. I think you may be write about the battery. I've never seen such clean connection or such heavy duty wiring. I'm used to motorbikes and Fiats!

[Darstedly]

Well today is Saturday and my nearest American car mechanic is shut. I'm convinced it's the battery but am not sure if it is dead or simply not charging. I try to buy a new battery but getting hold of a Freedom Battery in the UK on a Saturday even with a car that starts is a challenge. I remember my motorbike battery charger. Why didn't I think of it last night? It is weak but might give my burb's battery a sufficient boost. OK, bite the bullet and unhook the battery. Wait a minute, the positive terminal nut is only hand tight. Could that be the cause? If so did the battery have enough charge to turn the engine before the bolt loosened up? It did! I tighten it up and turn the key. She starts immediately and I drive over to a friends house for the sheer joy of driving my beautiful new Suburban. Amazing that one turn of a bolt would fix the connection. Thanks again for your help