TeamPwnageBrad
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- March 25, 2005
- Messages
- 154
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Houston, TX
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 98 XLT
Hello, Ive got a 98 4.0L SOHC XLT Explorer and for some reason it keeps killing batteries. The alternator is a brand new high output alternator (250A @ 2000RPM) and has been working absolutely fine for the past month. The battery is about a 6 month old Optima D31 deep cycle battery. It also tests out fine under a heavy load.
I drove from austin to houston and parked it and everything was fine. the next morning i came out and i saw that on my head unit the voltage was reading ~12.8 to 13v at maximum, even whiile driving around at 2k+ RPM. Sounds like an alternator problem there... get home again and park it. come out the next morning and the thing wont turn over. the battery voltage was at 9.1 volts so i removed the optima and stuck it on the charger. I threw in my backup battery and the car fired right up. the head unit was showing 13.4-13.5 volts. it usually reads about .3 lower than if you were to measure at the battery terminals. So i figure its charging fine right now, its just a little low because that battery has been sitting and is taking a bit of current and charging up. I turn the car off, the battery is sitting at 12.5 volts. I come out about an hour later and it fires up. This morning, i came outside and it wont start. 9.1 volts again. And now we are at the present.. Im thinking that there is a relay stuck somewhere that isnt turning off and is sucking up a decent amount of current.
If anyones got any suggestions, im open to trying them all.
I drove from austin to houston and parked it and everything was fine. the next morning i came out and i saw that on my head unit the voltage was reading ~12.8 to 13v at maximum, even whiile driving around at 2k+ RPM. Sounds like an alternator problem there... get home again and park it. come out the next morning and the thing wont turn over. the battery voltage was at 9.1 volts so i removed the optima and stuck it on the charger. I threw in my backup battery and the car fired right up. the head unit was showing 13.4-13.5 volts. it usually reads about .3 lower than if you were to measure at the battery terminals. So i figure its charging fine right now, its just a little low because that battery has been sitting and is taking a bit of current and charging up. I turn the car off, the battery is sitting at 12.5 volts. I come out about an hour later and it fires up. This morning, i came outside and it wont start. 9.1 volts again. And now we are at the present.. Im thinking that there is a relay stuck somewhere that isnt turning off and is sucking up a decent amount of current.
If anyones got any suggestions, im open to trying them all.