battery dying
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Member
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 46
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From: grande prairie, Alberta,
battery dying
i replaced the alternator a few years ago - and the battery a few days ago.
I have a good idea that it has to do with a fuse in the dash fuse box - when i was young i would hook up accessories by tying wires around fuses and shoving them into the slots of the dash fuse box. This problem happened before - where a fuse that apparently keeps the battery charged, wasnt connecting right. The mechanix adjusted the fuse and it worked fine, however i think its happening again since i was fiddling around.. and im not sure what fuse it is. anyone?
I have a good idea that it has to do with a fuse in the dash fuse box - when i was young i would hook up accessories by tying wires around fuses and shoving them into the slots of the dash fuse box. This problem happened before - where a fuse that apparently keeps the battery charged, wasnt connecting right. The mechanix adjusted the fuse and it worked fine, however i think its happening again since i was fiddling around.. and im not sure what fuse it is. anyone?
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 614
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From: Troy, NY
Start at the battery. Get out your voltmeter or multitester, and charge the battery with an external charger. Check the voltage. Should be right around 12.5-12.6 if the battery is good. Now start up the motor and turn off any accessories. Let it run for a good minute or two, and test the battery with the motor running(ignore the voltmeter on the dash). Should be reading in the 14.6 ballpark. Up or down a few tenths is no big deal, but if it's lower than 14 there's likely a problem somewhere, and if it's over 15 the regulator may be going/gone.
You can test the alt with a probe multitester, but there are better charging system specific testers out there for that purpose. Run you about $30 at most auto stores and do load tests and other useful stuff. An old-school way to test generators(not sure if this works on alts) was to run two wires from the battery to opposite posts of the gen. If if spun like a motor, it was good. If not, it was bad. Another method is to get an assistant to switch on lights+highbeams(hold the lever foward) while you monitor the voltage w/motor running. It will drop momentarily. If it recovers in a couple seconds, you're fine. If it is very slow or does not recover, you have a bad alt.
Don't mickey-mouse electrical by cramming wires into fuse slots, and stuffing the fuse on top. That's asking for a short or worse, a fire. Not to mention it works fine for a day until vibration and movement shift stuff around. If you add electrical to your truck, do it the right way. There's a well written article on this site about electrical under "Technical Articles". I suggest you read it.
You can test the alt with a probe multitester, but there are better charging system specific testers out there for that purpose. Run you about $30 at most auto stores and do load tests and other useful stuff. An old-school way to test generators(not sure if this works on alts) was to run two wires from the battery to opposite posts of the gen. If if spun like a motor, it was good. If not, it was bad. Another method is to get an assistant to switch on lights+highbeams(hold the lever foward) while you monitor the voltage w/motor running. It will drop momentarily. If it recovers in a couple seconds, you're fine. If it is very slow or does not recover, you have a bad alt.
Don't mickey-mouse electrical by cramming wires into fuse slots, and stuffing the fuse on top. That's asking for a short or worse, a fire. Not to mention it works fine for a day until vibration and movement shift stuff around. If you add electrical to your truck, do it the right way. There's a well written article on this site about electrical under "Technical Articles". I suggest you read it.
Last edited by RaWarrior; Apr 20, 2007 at 10:18 PM.