OK, can't start truck. Was able to jump start it but it took almost 45 minutes. Drove for better than an hour, went into Wal~Mart for about 40 minutes, came back out and it was sluggish to turn over but it started. Stopped a few miles down the road for about 20 minutes now its gone.
Tried to jumpstart, had it hooked up for over an hour... no good. Passenger's side battery is throwing 10.9 Volts and Passenger's side battery is throwing about 10.5. By the time I decided to try the voltmeter, I couldn't get it started to see what the alternator was doing.
I am thinking (maybe hoping too) that the probkem is the batteries since once I did get it jumpstarted it ran for well over an hour... plus when it was hooked up tot he other running vehicle, after an hour, niether threw more than 11 volts of charge.
Can anyone chime in here before I spend $200.00 on batteries?
You did not happen to check the alternator output when it was running did you. If you were using a single battery vehicle to boost/charge you are wasting your time. Keeping on trying to start it will cost you a starter.........how fast was it turning over before this all started. RPMs of the starter have to be faster than you can count...... If you do need batteries minimum is 850CCA each, Wallymart has 1000CCA pretty reasonable.
Just to rule out a wiring problem, I would take an ohmmeter and connect it between the positive battery post and the red post on top of the alternator. You should have less than 1 ohm resistance. If this is good then whatever your alternator puts out should recharge the batteries. Also check the condition of your battery cables going to the starter, these are known to corrode inside the insulation near the terminal ends.
You could also take your alternator off and take it to an auto electric shop and have it tested to make sure it's good. The auto electric shop might also have a battery load tester. Load testing the batteries will tell you if the batteries are indeed bad. Advance Auto or Autozone can also do these tests, but I am less confident in their abilities...
__________________
1986 F250 2WD Super Cab XLT Lariat w/ 1996 front clip. Dually bed & van rearend (2" wider, allows spring clearance). 6.9 w/ approx 120,000mi. Banks non-wastegated turbo system, Beru ZD1A glowplugs, Delphi BB injectors, Kenworth pyrometer, vac/boost gauge, electric water temp/oil psi/voltmeter mounted in dash. 3" Mandrel-bent open exhaust. C6 trans, 3.54 gears. Okiegringo idler pulley. R134a A/C conversion. WMO/diesel blend in one tank.
I did not check the alternator before the problems. Everything was fine (starter was fast, etc) until the bats died... after that I can't charge it enough to do anything but click rapidly.
=> How many volts should the alternator throw?
=> Should I check the resistance with the vehicle running or off?
=> If jump starting w/ a single battery car is a waste of time (consistent with my experience), what is a truck owner to do?
I once left my lights on while at work (eight hours). Batteries were completely dead. It took a guy with an F-250 gasser (one batt) over 45 minutes to deliver a suitable charge for the truck to start.
I just logged on cause I have the same problem. Last week out of the blue the ol' girl wouldn't start. I had my alt. check at autozone they said it was good. I brought in my batts. to have them recharged they said the batts. were good. With the batts. charged she started right up. The ol' girl was hard to start the last few days but now she won't even turn over. I've check all of the cables and cleaned the contacts... [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cry.gif[/img]
__________________
'92 F-250 XLT Super Cab, 7.3 IDI non-turbo, E4OD Tranny, 4.10 gears, Mocha, 200,000+
'99 Crown Vic P-71 Interceptor
Is your battery light coming on inside the truck? Mine did the same thing a few weeks ago. It was running the batteries down. I would have to re-charge them every two days.Took my alternator to autozone and it was good. My problem was with the voltage regulator. Also note that i went through two of these because the first one i bought was bad. The regulator was $11.00 i think at autozone.
Placed a couple of new batteries from Wal~Mart and it roared right to life. I noticed that before the glow plugs were drawing the batt gauge down close to the red and now they don't draw near as far down. Also, after running for a few seconds, batt gauge registers 3/4 of the way to 18 whereas before it was barely half.
All that said, batteries seem to have fixed the problem. When I put the voltmeter on the passenger's side battery with the truck running, I get 31.7 volts. Am I where I need to be as far as my alternator is concerned?
Just for giggles, in case anyone ever reads this down the road...
The bolts holding the battery mount(s) down were 5/16... you'll need a ratchet w/ extension. I used a regular wrench and quarter turned past my will to live. The bolt holding down the air intake on the driver's side was also 5/16 for me.
Read your post and it prompted me to register with the site. You need a new voltage regulator or you will fry your new batteries.
31 volts is no good. When you go buy one ask for the most expensive one, cause I didn't and went through 4 bad regulators before forking over the extra $5 for one that worked.
__________________
1994 F-250 IDI factory turbo 316K
1985 MB 300TDT 295K
1984 Izuzu pup diesel 104K (needs new main bearings)
1972 MB 220 D
1972 Chevy K/20 4x4 bored .30 with cam
I'm really hoping that was a typo and you meant 13.7 volts. If not, you are looking at a voltage regulator problem. Battery voltage with engine running should be between 13.0 and 14.0 volts.
__________________
1986 F250 2WD Super Cab XLT Lariat w/ 1996 front clip. Dually bed & van rearend (2" wider, allows spring clearance). 6.9 w/ approx 120,000mi. Banks non-wastegated turbo system, Beru ZD1A glowplugs, Delphi BB injectors, Kenworth pyrometer, vac/boost gauge, electric water temp/oil psi/voltmeter mounted in dash. 3" Mandrel-bent open exhaust. C6 trans, 3.54 gears. Okiegringo idler pulley. R134a A/C conversion. WMO/diesel blend in one tank.
I'm almost positive it was 31.7 volts. It didn't throw up any red flags because the vehicle I used to try to jump the vehicle came in at 30.1 (Toyota Rav4). So there is no confusion, I am talking about placing voltmeter prods on battery terminals while vehicle is running.
So... where is the voltage regulator, does anyone have a part number, should I head over to Ford or will the one from Advance Auto suffice, can it be replaced easily?
Just did this last week on my brothers 92 idi. He had the exact same symptoms and toasted one set of batteries. It was only when he tested voltage on his non running batteries and got 28 volts that we figured it out. regulator is located on the passenger side of the engine compartment on the fenderwell I believe. We got the good regulator from the same place we got several bad ones, just had to ask for the better one. I believe you should be getting somewhere between 14 and 18 volts. Someone else here may have the exact voltage.
I sent him to the dealer to get a motorcraft regulator, and they told him they had discontinued the part.
__________________
1994 F-250 IDI factory turbo 316K
1985 MB 300TDT 295K
1984 Izuzu pup diesel 104K (needs new main bearings)
1972 MB 220 D
1972 Chevy K/20 4x4 bored .30 with cam
Well, LOL, fire up the idiot band and play my anthem. False alarm. My voltmeter is pretty old and worn. I re-tested and came out at 31.0 volts. So I put the prods up to an alkaline battery and got a pretty strange reading. Looks like I was using the AC setting instead of the DC setting.
The alternator is showing 14.4 +/- .1 at the battery.
Linear Mode
