1999 XLT Ford Ranger Heater on discharges battery and system to Zero on gauge.

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Ok so I have not noticed this happening ever before while driving it at night. I drove a couple of miles away to get gas. Upon my return I found my headlights going dim and the ABS light had come on solid with a check gauge light on too solidly. The amp meter I believe is the gauge showed no charge at all. Upon turning off the heater this rose a little bit. The AC doesn't seem to cause this either. After driving home I let it run a bit charging up the battery with no accessories on. But not enough apparently.

The battery comes up with a 12.26 charge and after trying to start it gives 11.19 volts. On the charger it shows its mostly charged with a very low trickle in fact now it shows it fully charged on the 10 amp cycle has 12.4 as the charge. Truck could sit a weak before this and start.

Upon trying to start it I heard a loud clicking repeatedly and assume its the solenoid trying to turn the starter over but not enough voltage to do so?

What would cause the heater switch itself to cause this "short" in the system other than frayed wire somewhere or some device shorting out?

I have read about others having relay problems. Would this be a relay issue?

Have not looked at the owners manual but it seemed to have not much in it when I did the other night.
Need a diagram for both that relay box and the fuse box.

Also the battery is out of truck. The terminals were clean and tight with purple permatex sprayed on the battery terminals. The wires going into terminals seem tight too. Will look at other ends.
Also the Alternator is a Beck Arnley remanufactured which to me means it was replaced and I think they are a reputable rebuilder. The truck has 64K on it. Serpentine belt looks good and tight.

Any suggestions ?

 

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problem still there battery cables / where to get best replacement

Ok so I let the battery sit over night charging on 2 amps and it got up too about 13.3 volts. Put it in and cleaned the cables terminals with some sand paper. one appeared to have had some bad corrosion cleaned off previously by the discoloration plus it was cracked on the lower ring of the design which reminds me of a Volkswagen campmobile's terminal design. Anyway the problem went away and the battery charged at 14.4 across the terminals running. The voltmeter didn't get right away at that it raised up over a minute or more.

But the problem has come back again with all accessories running at night and a little push on the terminals though they are tight caused the low charge this time with abs light on to go away. The gauge was not flatlining this time but low.

IS there any aftermarket cable that is better or fixes these battery cable issues
better than the stock Ford Motorcraft cables? I see like 3 part numbers here for the same year truck.

http://www.##################.com/p...2&apwkwd=Ford+Ranger+Battery+Cable+Motorcraft