I had just finished installing my newly-welded fuel tank and adding from a can enough gas to get to the gas station to fill up my tank, and I was on the way to a nearby gas station when I saw sparks fly from under the hood and everything shut off - lights, engine, everything, in the middle of the road.
I turned off the ignition and took out the key, and as I was pushing the truck to the side of the road, some of the lights on the dash were still on, the dash was humming with an annoying low beeping/buzzing sound, and I noticed an electrical burning smell (not overpowering, but enough to notice). It didn't stop buzzing until I started yanking at the negative battery cable in a feeble attempt to disconnect it without having any tools on me.
After sitting with it for a few moments, I tried to start it again, not really expecting anything, but it actually started back up. When I released the clutch, there was the sound of a whining belt for a moment before it started moving. I then went the rest of the way to the gas station and back without major incident.
For the rest of the ride, my headlights were notably dim and flickered consistently, and the turn signal lights on the dash were dimly illuminated in an unusual pulsating fashion. Halfway through the drive back, the 'check engine' light came on and stayed on. When I got back, I looked under the hood again and didn't see anything obviously visibly amiss.
I gather that something of an electrical nature obviously went wrong, but I'm not sure what, or where to go from here. I also gather that my v-belts might be loose, but I can't imagine what kind of correlation there would be between the belts and electrical problems.
An extra piece of information that may or may not be relevant is that the truck had been left sitting for about two weeks, and when I first started it, I had to turn it over two or three times before it would start. Perhaps a low battery level could have contributed in some way to whatever happened?
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