At wits end with charging system

[Twister]

Well got a new battery, installed it and something is making a draw on my system. With it hooked up it will slowly drain. So i changed out the battery cables with different ones from my other truck and changed the terminal connectors. There was an extra negative cable, that i think the previous owner added for the off road lights he added, but i disabled them so i removed the extra ground, it was super cracked and corroded anyway. With all that i think i stopped the draw. But now when i start it, the battery light comes on and the battery only sits at 12.2v :icon_confused:. So anyone got any ideas?

I took the battery out and have it inside so it doesn't get damaged by the truck :sad:

 

[4x4junkie]

But now when i start it, the battery light comes on and the battery only sits at 12.2v :icon_confused:.

Sounds like that "extra negative cable" might've had something to do with your charge circuit, but there's no way to know without doing some testing.

I would check that the ground cable to your engine block is good (probably is if the starter motor is working OK), and that all your frame & body grounds are OK.
Also if you haven't already, check the fuses for your alt in your power dist. box.

If all those check out, then I guess it's time to get out your volt/ohm meter or a continuity tester and start tracing through your wiring for a broken or disconnected wire somewhere.

 

[Twister]

Sounds like that "extra negative cable" might've had something to do with your charge circuit, but there's no way to know without doing some testing.

I would check that the ground cable to your engine block is good (probably is if the starter motor is working OK), and that all your frame & body grounds are OK.
Also if you haven't already, check the fuses for your alt in your power dist. box.

If all those check out, then I guess it's time to get out your volt/ohm meter or a continuity tester and start tracing through your wiring for a broken or disconnected wire somewhere.

Well it did with an without that extra cable. Where I the distribution box, are you talking about the fuse block inside the cab, as that's the only one I have I think.


Sent from, wait how did this get here?

 

[4x4junkie]

Power distribution box should be under the hood (unless '87 is different somehow)

 

[kimcrwbr1]

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/chargingsystem.htm Read this all the way through and follow it step for step. Fully charge the battery and let it sit overnight and see if it looses juice. It is real important that all three are in good condition alternator, regulator and battery. Until you can get it to pass the no/load and the load tests do not run it very long any one bad component can destroy the other two in short order. The first step is go through the wiring completely. Once your sure the wiring is good you can then diagnose the charging system. Read through the link I gave you a few times and plan your attack. Also did you clean the armature contacts I take a fine flat file and spin the armature to dress up the contacts then use a small screwdriver to clean the grooves in between the contact and clean it good with electrical cleaner and air pressure. GL and dont get in a hurry. This is for the 1987 correct?

 

[Twister]

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/chargingsystem.htm Read this all the way through and follow it step for step. Fully charge the battery and let it sit overnight and see if it looses juice. It is real important that all three are in good condition alternator, regulator and battery. Until you can get it to pass the no/load and the load tests do not run it very long any one bad component can destroy the other two in short order. The first step is go through the wiring completely. Once your sure the wiring is good you can then diagnose the charging system. Read through the link I gave you a few times and plan your attack. Also did you clean the armature contacts I take a fine flat file and spin the armature to dress up the contacts then use a small screwdriver to clean the grooves in between the contact and clean it good with electrical cleaner and air pressure. GL and dont get in a hurry. This is for the 1987 correct?

Thanks, ill read that over. Yes this is on an 87 with a 94 Taurus 130amp 3g alt swapped in.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

It wouldnt hurt to upgrade to larger cables and have you added a ground wire from the alternator body to battery neg and clean the ground from engine to chassis usually between the head and the firewall.

 

[Twister]

It wouldnt hurt to upgrade to larger cables and have you added a ground wire from the alternator body to battery neg and clean the ground from engine to chassis usually between the head and the firewall.

Already cleaned them and added the wire from the alt case to the battery.

 

[Twister]

Power distribution box should be under the hood (unless '87 is different somehow)

Unless the previous owner worked some voodoo magic on the truck, or i am blind, there is not one under the hood. Would you mind snagging a pic of where yours is?

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/chargingsystem.htm Read this all the way through and follow it step for step. Fully charge the battery and let it sit overnight and see if it looses juice. It is real important that all three are in good condition alternator, regulator and battery. Until you can get it to pass the no/load and the load tests do not run it very long any one bad component can destroy the other two in short order. The first step is go through the wiring completely. Once your sure the wiring is good you can then diagnose the charging system. Read through the link I gave you a few times and plan your attack. Also did you clean the armature contacts I take a fine flat file and spin the armature to dress up the contacts then use a small screwdriver to clean the grooves in between the contact and clean it good with electrical cleaner and air pressure. GL and dont get in a hurry. This is for the 1987 correct?

Read that over. Did the test for a drain on the system, by hooking a test light to the disconnected negative battery cable and the negative terminal using a test light i made from turn signal connector. With it hooked up, the light comes on. According to the tech article you linked to i should have a short somewhere in the electrical . I pulled all the fuses and it didn't go out . I am thinking about ripping out the alarm system i put in the truck to see if that is what is causing it. I ran out of light today so i will have to mess with it more tomorrow.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

There may be a couple things that give you a false or indirect short like the computer and radio memory. Your on the right track start disconnecting components and isolate the fault. Electricity flows from negative to posative but you want to troubleshoot from posative to ground.

 

[MikeR]

If you have an alarm system I would say that is deff your problem. They will kill a battery over time. I work for BMW and almost all of our cars have alarms on them. We actually recommend that people use a battery tender if they are going to let the car sit for more that a few days because of how quickly they will kill a battery.

 

[4x4junkie]

Unless the previous owner worked some voodoo magic on the truck, or i am blind, there is not one under the hood. Would you mind snagging a pic of where yours is?

It's visible in this pic:
http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/6/web/702000-702999/702959_104_full.jpg
(box right in between the air cleaner housing and the fender)

Must be '87 doesn't have one if you're not finding it.

 

[Twister]

It's visible in this pic:
http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/6/web/702000-702999/702959_104_full.jpg
(box right in between the air cleaner housing and the fender)

Must be '87 doesn't have one if you're not finding it.

Thanks for the pic, yeah mine doesn't have that. Messed with it a bit more today, i think my big fuse that goes inbetween my charge cable and the starter solenoid is bad. It has no continuity between the sides. So i pulled that off, pulled all the fuses for my alarm system and i hooked the battery up, i am going to let it sit for a couple hours and see if the voltages change, and get a new big fuse.

 

[bobbywalter]

unless the charge was running up with rpm....like going to 17 volts at 2500 rpm the alt was likely ok. only turning 12.2 volts and testing good at the parts store is spookey.


check all of the leads from the starter post and the relays. sounds like a relay is hanging on ya intermittently and kicking the batteries ass.

ac wac relay, fuel pump relay or ecm relay.

fuel pump you wil usually know as you hear the pump....ac or eec relays are a bit harder to snag

hook it up and shut the key off. then pull and reconnect the relays and see if they are active.


possible the ig switch is bad or light switch etc...

 

[Twister]

unless the charge was running up with rpm....like going to 17 volts at 2500 rpm the alt was likely ok. only turning 12.2 volts and testing good at the parts store is spookey.


check all of the leads from the starter post and the relays. sounds like a relay is hanging on ya intermittently and kicking the batteries ass.

ac wac relay, fuel pump relay or ecm relay.

fuel pump you wil usually know as you hear the pump....ac or eec relays are a bit harder to snag

hook it up and shut the key off. then pull and reconnect the relays and see if they are active.


possible the ig switch is bad or light switch etc...

The previous owner had another single wire attached to the negative. If I remove that wire and touch it to the negative post on the battery a relay in the passenger side fender wall clicks. Is it suppose to do that?

Sent from, wait how did this get here?

 

[bobbywalter]

no.....but it may have been a trail fix.


since you dont have a box, often the relays get loose and turned upside down or sideways and get water in them pissin em off...

easy chech.

 

[Twister]

no.....but it may have been a trail fix.


since you dont have a box, often the relays get loose and turned upside down or sideways and get water in them pissin em off...

easy chech.

Well ill replace that and the fuse abd go from there. Thanks

Sent from, wait how did this get here?

 

[Twister]

Ok, so i replaced the fuse and the relay. The fuse was deffinetly what was causing the alt not to charge. With both of those replaced, at idle in park (900rpm), the reading at the battery was about 14.35v. With everything i could turn on minus the stereo it was sitting between 14.23-14.27v, so it seems like i got the charging fixed. I am not sure if i fixed the draw yet, the test light still turns on, but it seems to only have enough power to make the filament glow. It is not full on lit, but a slight glow. So i will take a reading from the battery a little later and see if it is gone or not :icon_thumby:

 

[4x4junkie]

Shouldn't be more than about 20-40ma current drain (engine ECM + memory for your radio presets). Depending on the bulb your test light has, that slight glow may or may not be normal.
I'd check it with a VOM or DMM set to DC amps just to be sure.

Sounds like you finally got the charging part figured out though. :icon_thumby:

 

[Twister]

Well about a month later and i dont seem to have any problems except dimming. When i turn on my turn signal or stereo my lights will ever so slightly dim corresponding to the flashes of the turn signals or from the bass of a song. Any idea what would cause it?