Dead battery or something else?

[TwiztidRat]

Hey guys, the other night my truck was running fine, next morning the thing was dead. It would start and run fine with a jump right now it's dead. Took the battery inside to try charging it, and it appears to be fully charged, and holding a charge, so my dad thinks it might be something else. It was driven around constantly so I ruled out the alternator cause of the amount of time it was running. All I can think is a possible bad starter but would jumping it make it start still?

 

[pbnj22]

Hey guys, the other night my truck was running fine, next morning the thing was dead. It would start and run fine with a jump right now it's dead. Took the battery inside to try charging it, and it appears to be fully charged, and holding a charge, so my dad thinks it might be something else. It was driven around constantly so I ruled out the alternator cause of the amount of time it was running. All I can think is a possible bad starter but would jumping it make it start still?

it could still be the starter cus a bad starter will still occasionally start so you could have just got lucky unless you have been driving it daily and starting it bunches with no problem then i would rule out the starter... did you just leave your lights on once? or was it super cold out? that can drain a battery do you have a volt meter? check your battery and the volts should be like 12.6 when resting
and like 14.7 or something when engine is running

 

[firepop5]

Dirty or corroded terminals?

 

[xpolice-explorer]

Dirty or corroded terminals?

+1, corrosion can also work its way down into the insulation of the battery cables causing intermittent starting issues. Check every terminal/wire that battery connects to from bat. to starter.

 

[Daniel77]

I had this same problem several years ago . Check the ground cable . there is a bare spot about 12" or so down where a clip has been crimped on and bolts to your frame before bolting to the engine .
On mine where this clip is the cable was so corroded about 6-8 " both ways that there was really no ground .
I just changed both cables . New battery ,Starter .Ever thing works great . You can check your alternator by pulling the neg. cable off battery after its started . It should stay running . You only need the battery to start the truck .
Good luck Joey

 

[IAmThor]

Dirty or corroded terminals?

I agree with this. I had the same problem on my 94 ex. The cables that go on the battery were so corroded, it wouldn't start. I used warm water and baking soda to make an acid solution and soaked both cables in it for about 20 minutes. Starts just like new

 

[IAmThor]

Dirty or corroded terminals?

Soak the ends in warm water and baking soda. It makes an acid solution that will eat all of the corrosion off. I had this problem and now it starts perfect

 

[JimMadsen]

Instead of pulling off the battery cable to test the alt, just drive to a autozone or such and have them test the battery and alt. The alt may be failing causing the issue but not yet gone.

I had similar problems with voltage that turned out to be a failing alt. I just plugged in a digital battery tester and kept an eye on the numbers. I can leave it in for weeks and it will tell me the voltage going to my cig lighter port at any time.