altenator?

[fishwish3]

Ok, make long story short, tried to start the rig up and just clicking, replaced the negative terminal, stock one broke off, put in the new battery and fired right up, let her run about 15 min and shut her down and fired her back up, the volt gauge is lower this time and not going back up, turned on lights, blower on high and the gauge drops a little more, turn off the blower and it come back up a bit. did not do a voltage test yet, trying to warm myself up a little first, altenator going bad possibly?

 

[SoNic67]

Probably. Measure the voltage on battery with engine running - should be 14.4V +/-0.2V for a good alternator.

 

[fishwish3]

I checked the voltage, engine off, 12.75, running, 14.50. Running with high load, 14.35

 

[fishwish3]

ok, now this is honestly and im sorry if i offend anyone, but this is really pissing me off, new battery-2 days in the truck, and DEAD! same this as the first battery, nothing is wired to the battery except for the CB radio that i have the fuse pulled out of so no power going to it, and my blue fire dept warning lights, but those are switched, truck has only been started about 10 times on the new battery and it went the ways of the 10 year old ford battery. any ideas on how to fix this beast?

 

[1998Exp]

Is the battery dead, or just discharged? If it's just discharged, you may have a big drain somewhere that you don't know about. It's not that unusual.
If that's the suspicion, you need to measure the discharge current. It's done by simply wiring an ampmeter in series with one of the battery terminals. Need to turn everything off, close all doors and wait about 15 minutes for everything to go to 'sleep mode'. Normally, the currrent should drop below 50mA. If it's significantly higher, the problem should be diagnosed by removing fuses, until the culprit is found. If removing fuses doesn't do it, the discharge could be through some 'always hot' circuit -- the alternator is definitely a possibility (leaking diodes) even though it's still charging properly.

 

[OneLever]

If that's the suspicion, you need to measure the discharge current.

You can keep a continuous connection between the battery terminal and the battery cable by connecting the ends of a jumper cable to each. They can then be held apart by something like a piece of scrap 2x4. That way you don't leave the multimeter in series for a long time. You have to maintain a continuous connection because if you open the circuit and then reattach the battery cable that wakes the GEM up.

When you're ready to measure the current just hook the multimeter up the same way as the jumper cable and disconnect the jumper cable after you do. I believe it may take a bit longer for the GEM to go asleep. Somewhere around 30 minutes, but that could be wrong.

 

[fishwish3]

I had the meter hooked up on both the old and new batteries, both read 12.5 volts. also, turned on the fog lights when went to start it, all the lights went out and then slowly came back up to full power

 

[Scout3]

Fishwish,

A good battery and a dead battery will read 12 volts under no load(turning on lights would be considered a load). With the lights on, engine not running, voltage should be 10 volts or better. With the engine running, voltage should be 13-14.5. It sounds like you did this all ready and it checks good. Now you need to check for current drain when the vehicle is parked.To do that disconnect the positive terminal at the battery. Make sure everything is turned off. Doors shut. Set your meter to read amps, start at the highest setting and work down. Most home meters the highest seting is 10 amps. Connect your meter between the positive terminal of the battery and the positive lead of the car. Read the meter. Some new cars could have up to almost 1 amp at rest. Ideally it should be about 300 milliamps or less. If it is high, start pulling fuses until it drops. Then you know what circuit is causing the problem.

Ed

 

[1998Exp]

A long shot, but worth checking

To fishwish,

This may be a long shot, but worth checking. Did this vehicle ever have the cruise control disconnect switch recall done? If memory serves, most Fords of that vintage were affected, and the recall campaign was announced around 2006.
Many Fords of that vintage have the potential for brake fluid leaking into the cruise control disconnect switch and causing a short. The +12V power (which this switch is supposed to disconnect when you step on the brake pedal) is 'always hot' and protected only by a 20A fuse. If this switch shorts to ground, it will not only discharge the battery quickly, but may also cause a fire, even with the key removed. As far as I know, Ford's recall consisted of inspection and installing an in-line fuse, to protect from fire. I don't know the rating of that fuse. Just in case, even if the recall was performed, I would unplug the harness and measure resistance from both switch pins to ground -- it should be very high.

 

[fishwish3]

The recall has been done on this rig, not by me but the previous owner, I have only had the rig a little over 3 years. At this point I have it down to either the starter or the altenator or even both, I took the battery out of the system and did a direct connect to the system via jumper cables hooked up to a running duramax, and yet, no dice,

 

[deadernie]

I would get a dead battery about once every other week for no explainable reason. Replaced my negative battery terminal figuring I had found the problem and yet still a couple of weeks later a dead battery again. Seemed to be totally random.

I was driving home from work one morning when my radio started crapping out and I noticed the battery gauge all the way @ the low mark. Tested everything again and there was no output from the alternator.

Replaced the alternator with one from the junkyard for $12 ($ are tight) and everything has been good for about 4 months now. My only guess is the alternator was dying a slow death.

 

[fishwish3]

i am going to be getting a starter tomorrow for 40 bucks from the yard and replacing it due to no cranking with the battery out of the question and hooked up to a duramax.

 

[Scout3]

Take your starter to any auto parts store and have them test it. No sense changing if it isn't bad. I have tried to start vehicles the way you mentioned and had trouble as well. Just works better with a battery in the system.

 

[fishwish3]

Well, even with the battery connected it still does the same thing, but right now I feel too sick to do anything and it is not even on my property, it is dead in my girlfriends driveway, some 26 miles away

 

[fishwish3]

for any and all who are following my problem, i replaced the starter, and still not starting, hooked it up to another car for about 15 min, clicked, slowly cranked, clicked some more and then cranked over, i cannot shut it down, if i do will not re-fire, i believe that the altenator is not putting out the amps to properly change the battery, it is putting out the proper voltage, so any help?

 

[jd944]

This may be a stupid question but did you put a brand new battery in or a used one? I ask because if it's running at 14+ volts your alternator is working. I had a dead battery about a week ago, charged it overnight and took it to Autozone (14.4 volts when running) to have it checked. Their tester said it was good and that I probably had a "parasitic drain". I knew it was just a bad battery since they only seem to live about three years in the Florida heat and this one was just over three years old. I went down the road to Advance auto parts to have them check it out. Their tester said it had a bad cell. Long story short, Autozone replaced it under protest and the car has been fine since. The interesting thing is the next day I got a nice phone call from the district manager of Autozone appologizing for the hard time the store manager gave me. He said one of the other employees tipped him off about it. Anyhow, sorry for the ramble, my point is to make sure your replacement battery is good. Don't throw parts at it until you're sure. Good luck.

 

[fishwish3]

it is a brand new 'ever start MAXX' battery, tested good, 849 CCA out of 850and they will not replace it because it tested good for them

 

[Scout3]

Fishwish,
I have been following your ordeal and hope we can get you going. In your earlier posts you said when the car was running you had 14.50 volts. That is proof that your alternator is working fine. You have a brand new battery that has tested good. You have changed your starter. You said you changed a battery terminal because it broke off. I would look at your cables again. It sounds like your are not getting good current to the starter. Make sure the wires are in good condition and where you changed that terminal make sure the copper is clean and bright. After you get the car to crank strong and start good then you can check for something that may drain your battery when it is parked. Let us know how it goes. Also when the car was running was your battery light on?

Ed

 

[fishwish3]

battery light is not on, copper is very clean, i scrubbed the heck out of it, also did a drain test, come up with a draw of 10mA, all the connections are good, kept looking ing over them, all are good and tight

 

[Scout3]

10 ma is good. I don't have any more ideas right now. Keep us informed.

Ed