draining battery....need to go to work!

[pegger]

Ok i have a 92 explorer, yesterday battery light came on and the battery started to drain as it went. made it home and it was dead.... I have replaced the altenator and it doesnt seem to charge the battery back up. Checked the back of the alt when it was running and its putting out 13 volts.....but the battery isnt recovering. Tried a diffrent battery and its the same result. what am i missing?

 

[blue_97_v8]

what about the batt cables? there's a big prob with them in first gen's

 

[410Fortune]

replace the ground cable to the frame. the cables deteriorate inside and you cant see it....

Also the alternator harness should be in good shape.

 

[pegger]

Cables seem to be decent....i put a meter on the back of alt and its putting out power fine but with the meter on the battery while its running it just shows the voltage going down the longer i let it run.....so im not sure the alt is less than 4 hours old and shows as working fine......

 

[410Fortune]

the alternator is not charn=ging the battery this leads me to believe the cables are bad...

CHECK the ground cable, just because it looks decent doesnt mean its hooked up to the frame on the other end......

 

[pegger]

What about the solenoid on the fender just above the battery? that have anything to do with not letting the charge into the battery? dumb questions i know but this is the first ford i have ever owned

 

[410Fortune]

nope that solenoid is for the starter. Nothing to do with charging..........

 

[pegger]

ok thanks/ now before i go back out in the dark is there anything else i should look for? and do you know where the ground cable connects to the frame?

And thanks for the quick responces

 

[pegger]

ok cleaned all the grounds, checked it again with it started had 10 volts while engine is off, 9.8vdc when at idle and then its at 9.59vdc at about 2000rpm.....

does anyone know which one of the voltage regulator outputs is the positive? so i can confirm out put? and what is the single white wire just under the voltage regulator output

thanks

 

[Pheonixx77]

WHOA! avg alternator will do 14+ at 2000 rpm's... i had a similar problem but batt light was not comming on due to the fact i burned up a trace on the dassh crcut...does the batt light come on when you turn key to ON position? then go off when truck starts? believe it or not that little light controls your alternator...if it dont come on at KEY ON then the alt will never charge batt.

 

[pegger]

Ok yes the light in the dash comes on, upon further inspection(its dark here) just out of luck i happened to look at the inside of the voltage regulator connector and noticed all the little pins had some nice corrosion on them. Cleaned em up and am gonna try again once the battery charges up.

keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[pegger]

Ok still cant get it to charge the battery back up. cleaned all the pins, removed and cleaned all the grounds. Still no luck. Any other thoughts?

 

[Opera House]

Solinoid does have something to do with it

on first gen Explorers. This is the main power take off. Could be some corrosion on the term with multiple wires.

You said you got 14V at the alternator. There is a fuse between the alternator and the battery. Could be corroded or open. Is there voltage on this bolt when car not running?

There is a 15A fuse that powers the regulator all the time. Sometimes the fuse contacts get corroded or sprung open.

Does the charging idiot light come on? If not, that might be the problem. Voltage to this lamp turns the regulator on. Just in case the bulb opens there is a resistor accross the lamp to supply power. If this wire opens from corrosion, no charging.

Battery cables can open under the insulation near connectors.

 

[pegger]

Ok got it figured out, thanks for all the help.

Turned out to be a couple of things.

coroded ground,bad altenator,and one dead battery(wouldnt take charge) and some corrosion on the regulator plug.

seems to be running good now except there is a flicker.......