Battery Issues

[sakirfp]

This afternoon while changing my the oil in my wife's 2005 Exp XLT 4.6, I noticed the battery terminals were corroded...I cleaned them with a wire brush..The terminal clamps fell apart...So I had to changed them...I went to the autoparts and got some new battery terminal clamps. I cut the neg and pos wires stipped them back and put the terminals on there.

The Exp started up but acted a little weird. the gauges went in the negative position for a second or two..Then went in the correct direction. My wife said the last time she seen that happen is when the battery went dead.

My wife took the truck for a little drive and when she stopped to get gas...It would not start back up..I gave her a jump..and we started it up.

Then when she went to drive home...Not sure if this is related...She had no headlights...

We got the truck home...It still does not seem to be starting right..The battery is acting funny...

any thoughts...

 

[Triton8273]

Alternator...simple as that.

 

[sakirfp]

So should I take it and get the alternator tested...It runs fine and has been running fine till I changed the terminal clamps..
...
I just started it up and disconnected the negative terminal...and it stayed running...

 

[Triton8273]

If you just stared it w/o jumping it then it could be a battery issue then.

 

[sakirfp]

I started it but the battery has been on a charger for the last 45 minutes..SHould I just let it sit till morning off the charger then try it or go buy me a new battery tonight...

 

[Triton8273]

See that's your problem...your charging it.

By jumping it or charging it your bypassing the purpose of the alternator. Letting it sit until the morning won't help if it's the alternator b/c the battery is still holding the charge. Go run the truck until you loose the headlights or some other electrical component such as the gauges or stereo, then get her home and try to restart it.

By jumping it you prove nothing, by charging it your proving that the battery is holding a charge.

 

[sakirfp]

That could explain why after I jumped her she had no lights...I was able to get it home...
I have it outside running now..to see if I lose lights...

 

[2002GreyHD150]

if all you did was change the terminals/ends of the OE battery wires... then the issue is either a poor new terminal connection or just by happen-stance the alt finally died.

The 4.6L Ford Alt is actually a VERY solidly designed unit. For one to fail is odd. Do you have any aftermarket stereo/accessory items that draw a great deal of amperage?

the system is simple: the battery's ONLY function is to store amperage to START the truck. PERIOD... don't let anyone confuse the reality... the battery only stores energy to START the truck.... The Alternator does ALL the work... Once the battery has HELPED start the truck, the alternator RUNS the truck AND recharges the battery. No smoke, no mirrors, no magic... simple as it gets...

So, if your terminals were crusty, either the new terminals aren't passing enough juice or the cables themselves are corroded internally... which is not that uncommon...

After 25 years of doing car audio & mechanical work, I don't believe or practice only replacing the terminals. If the terminal is ugly, the wire is too, is my take. So I make new cables, from battery to alt, from battery to ground... perfect time to do the "Big 3" power/ground upgrade... never EVER have there been issues...

There is a piece of your puzzle that is missing in translation... doesn't add up.

Rob

 

[sakirfp]

No after market anything..This truck is still as stock as the day we got it...The Alternator is orignal that came it...The only electrical problem I have ever had was 3 years ago the orignal battery died...
I keep thinking that it is the terminal connectors also..

Now that you said something...I did notice that one of the negative battery cables was a little corroded when I cut the broken clamp off it...

Now..I have left my truck running for the last hour or so ...and makes sense because it is running on the alternator...I turned it off and it had trouble starting.. Here is a video of that... http://youtu.be/Op_qvln2oV0 (yes that is Dee Synder on the radio)
You can see on the first start it had some trouble..>Then on the second start lots of trouble..I think it looks like in the morning I am taking off the terminal clamps see if I can get a better connections or replace the negative cable all together..

 

[sakirfp]

I think I am cookign with Gas now....
I installed a new negative wire from the engine mount to the battery..The other one did have a good amount of corrosion..
I then got my battery tested..It had a dead cell in it..So I replaced it..
Everything seems good now...This all because I started to clean the corroded terminals..

Now I am going to start a new thread about this..after I changed my cable and started the truck...I let it run for a little bit..Then I I am not sure how I got to screen...but on the information screen all kinds of information started showing up...I mean stuff like the actually water temparture...which seat belts were buckled up..actually votage on the bettery...RPMs...You name it..there was information galor...IT was like it was showing me everything in the computer but on the display screen in the dash...
How did I get to that information

 

[HCCA 250]

The 4.6L Ford Alt is actually a VERY solidly designed unit. For one to fail is odd.

Actually, the alt on my '02, died a couple of years ago. It was only putting out around 12.2 V. I lost the original battery, and a replacement, that lasted 3 months. I finally bought an Odyysey AGM battery, it, too, was losing juice, after a couple months. THAT is when I found out about the alt being bad. I replaced with a new DC Power 250amp alt. Everything's perfect, with the charging system, now. 14.4-4.7 V, all the time.