I have a problem with an 88 s10 5spd.
It was running fine then driving down the road, everything died. The problem now is when you turn the key to ON, dash lights come on, and the ampmeter reads fine. But as soon as you turn the key to crank the motor, everything dies and the meter drops to nothing, dash lights go out and it doesn't even try to crank. As soon as you release the key from the cranking position, everything comes back on and the meter jumps back up to normal.
I'm thinking it is some kind of short. I've tried a different battery, checked all underhood connections to batt and starter. The starter solenoid was just replaced not to long ago when the starter was rebuilt. Ignition switch was very recently replaced as well.
Just looking for some tips to maybe narrow down the search for the problem. I've had a buyer for this truck and this problem is all that is holding me up. Thanks.

 

C'mon, can't anyone give me an educated guess of where to start? Once I sell this I can buy new cylinder heads. Thanks.

 

this happened to my brothers 1983 firebird. Dash lights,dome lights,gauges,everything would work fine until he went to start it, then blah dead, we tried a diff battery and that solved it, but it might be your wires going from the starter to the battery or ground wires from the block or alt