Brand New battery is dead.

[Panelrodder]

Hey all. Last week I was driving my 66 C10 to work and I stopped for a soda and when I came out the truck was dead as a door nail. I got a jump and I made it to work with a bit of worry. When I arrived I turned it off and then got a sick feeling. Tried turning it on and nothing. I deduced that it was a bad battery, it had been dumping it's charge or not holding one since I bought it. I put a new battery in it and it ran great, this was thursday. It sat since that night and this morining it was dead again. My wife had my 97 blazer so I used her car to jump it and got it running. It's a bit cold today and my choke doesn't work so I sat reving the motor a bit trying to get it to warm up. I let it idle for a minute and it died. When I tried to turn it on again it the bat was still dead like the alt wasn't doing anything. Any ideas? I'm guessing that the system is grouding out some were and that is my problem but I'm open to suggestions. And also if grounding out seems like the right answer is there places that typically fail in these truck. (I'm a new owner of only a couple months)
PanelRodder

PS: I noticed that while it was idleing and runing that the volt gauge indicated a normal charge. Weird?

[bpmcgee]

Panel,

One of two things -- either a short someplace causing your battery to drain, or a faulty charging system causing it to not charge.

If you jump it, run for a while and it's dead when you try to restart it, I'm guessing it's most likely to be a faulty charging system. A short would generally take a couple of hours to drain your battery that far.

If your alternator is working, the voltage measured across the battery with the engine running should be over 13.5 volts. Can you check this or take the alternator someplace that can identify a WEAK alternator?

Alternatively you could get another alternator and drop it in. They're pretty cheap, really.

Brian

P.S. It's always good to check your ground connections, especially the one one right next to the battery -- they tend to corrode and cause poor electrical performance.

B

[Panelrodder]

I was guessing maybe the alt. That was gonna be my first step in my plan of attack. I need to get a hold of a meter I guess!! My next step would be to check connections on the battery. The ends are pretty coroded and if electricity wasn't making it to the battery while I was driving home, over an hour, that could explain the drain. I'm just hoping that there isn't short in the system that is grounding out. It has taken a lot of convincing to get the wife to ok the purchase, alotting of money, and time to this project!!! This would just be the amunition she needs! Plus I don't wanna spend weeks on end searching for it! You suggested checking for 13.5 or higher on the bat terminals while running, wouldn't that be explained by by the volts gauge in the dash showing normal voltage?
PanelRodder

[bpmcgee]

Originally Posted by Panelrodder

You suggested checking for 13.5 or higher on the bat terminals while running, wouldn't that be explained by by the volts gauge in the dash showing normal voltage?
PanelRodder

I don't know. Depends on if your guage is accurate, how the guage is wired, blah blah blah.

What I DO know is that trouble-shooting is the process of ELIMINATING variables, not inducing them

Brian

[Panelrodder]

[QUOTE=bpmcgee]I don't know. Depends on if your guage is accurate, how the guage is wired, blah blah blah.

What I DO know is that trouble-shooting is the process of ELIMINATING variables, not inducing them.

Good Point! Might as well eliminate all other possible problems and go straight to the source right!

[jasonrmorrow]

To check for a parasitic drain, go to your local parts store or discount parts/tools giant, it's called Princess Auto up here, maybe Harbour freight for you and ask for a battery knife switch, might run ya $5.

The knife switch is installed on the neg battery cable and the neg cable then installed on the knife switch. The knife switch has a knob on top that either makes or breaks the connection from the battery to the cable.

When you open the connection you want the current to flow through an ammeter, it must be a DVOM (digital volts/ohm meter) to read very low current.

Once the knife switch is installed turn the knob down to complete the circuit, go drive your truck for a while, use every accesory healdights etc. Then park it, turn the key off, get out your ammeter and connect it in series, turn the knob out to open the connection, observe the ammeter, if there is a reading above 20 mA (milli amps) then start pulling and replacing fuses one at a time until you see the current drop way down.

If it is dying overnihgt you'll have a large current draw on that battery so when you pull the right fuse the current will drop a large amount. Then just read on the fuse block which circuit is the problem.

http://pages.zdnet.com/64moneypit/id12.html

Go there for wiring diagrams and search hard and carefully.

And if you can't seem to find the problem the first time you can still get by without boosting everytime. Just leave that knife switch installed and each time you get out pop the hood and turn the knob out, kind of cheap auto theft system. This will disconnect the battery from the vehicle and let it hold its charge.

All this of course is providing your alternator is charging the system correctly.
Don't go by the gauge the PO could have some less than perfect wiring and the best test is to go right across the battery terminals.

The other thing you can do is tear that alternator off and take it to a local parts store, they'll usually test em for free. Then you can deduce whether the problem is the charging system(not likely), the wiring, or a parasitic drain.

I've got all my notes at school i can't find a good picture on the internet but tomorrow I can give you a good pic of the knife switch and the ammeter circuit.

[Demmit_Hemmit's 65]

To Check To See If Its The Alternator Just Disconect The Battery While Your Truck Is Running......................if Your Truck Dies Then You Need Another Alternator............this Doesn't Work On Newer Trucks.........hemmit

[Panelrodder]

Ok guys, thanks for all the replies. I guess I didn't even need to bother all of you with this simple question because after some thought on the event preceding the death of the truck, extreme description I guess, I decided to just persue the simplest route to finding the problem and tore off the alternator and took it to AutoZone for a test. DEAD. Ok so I bought a new one and had them charge my totally dead battery and then reassembled everything. Fired right up but I wanted to see if the alt was actually working dispite it being new so I took a cheap test light that I had laying around and touched it to the post on the alt and then to ground and it glowed very bright so I drove it around town for a little bit came back and did the same thing and still working. So it is fixed the problem I think was that the battery died and then I drove for over and hour on the alternator which was old and it died after putting in the new battery so I drove home, another hour on the battery which used up it's juice. Not sure if that is possible but that is the only explaination which answers all of the problems. If this doesn't fix it, I'm gonna go with the knife switch. Sounds kinda cool dispite the extra step everytime I get out!
PanelRodder

[jasonrmorrow]

Good to hear, i brought the procedure home for the parasitic drain test, glad you didn't have to use it, it can be a real PITA.
The post you touched on the back is the wire running right to the battery, so even if the truck isn't running you will have voltage there. And to say the light is bright depends on the test light so a better test is to take a multimeter and go straight across the terminals of the battery while the engine is running. If you see 13.5+ volts then you know its charging.

[Panelrodder]

I had put the test light on before the alt was replaced and the bat had to be jumped to run and the light was dull verses the brightness later. Plus I had to make due with what I had ya know!! I don't have many tools. My father has a shop and all the fun stuff but he is over an hour away!
PanelRodder