Battery blues.....help!

[Sklptrljay]

So I am in a time crunch to get this fixed, so I thought I would get some help here. Here's what is going on:

On Monday my wife's 99' Suburban wouldn't start and I had to get to work so I threw the battery from my C/10 in and problem solved until the weekend (so I thought). When I started the engine I read 14 volts across the battery posts.

So on Saturday evening I put the battery back in my C/10 adjusted the carb and went for a test drive (20 min drive) and was going to buy a battery for the Suburban on the way back. The truck was running great, I stopped to gas up and when I went to leave, nothing. The lights and other electrical worked, but no crank, not even a click from the solenoid. My first thought was the starter got too hot and was fried. Sat for about 20 minutes until I got a jump start from my wife (in my commuter car) and what do you know, it fired up and drove fine to my house.

At home I read 14 volts across the battery in the C/10 too. I removed the positive cable while it was still running and the engine did not die. I think that means bad alternator? Just weird that after putting it in the Suburban I started having an issue. Not running I am reading 12 volts across the battery.

So what do you think? I won't be able to work on anything until this evening (Sunday) so I'm going to be under the gun to figure out what the issue is before going back to work.

Thoughts?

[Tinkermc]

If truck ran without battery hookup I think that means it i running off the alternator. If it dies when cable is removed it means no power from the alt. is being made.

[cdowns]

i'd take a wire brush to the terminals and contacts for the wires to make sure of positive contact with the battery

[Sklptrljay]

Originally Posted by Tinkermc

If truck ran without battery hookup I think that means it i running off the alternator. If it dies when cable is removed it means no power from the alt. is being made.

Okay, so if that's the case I'm wondering if being in the Suburban screwed up the battery, or is it just a coincidence?

[Sklptrljay]

Originally Posted by cdowns

i'd take a wire brush to the terminals and contacts for the wires to make sure of positive contact with the battery

Yeah, forgot to mention I checked the connections. They are fine.

[AirSpeed]

Maybe a bad connection at the starter. The engine running without the batt indicates your alternator is charging, it wouldn't run without electricity.

[Sklptrljay]

Got a chance before to get some work in. Found that the original Suburban battery is indeed bad.

SO, that leaves the C/10.

It fired right up today. The auto place said it has a 60% charge and tests good. I put a test light in between the negative post and cable and did get a small lamp light. I found the alternator was causing the lamp to be on.

I keep going back to the starter. Its a "hi-torque mini starter". Wondering if it's getting hot and/or it's a Chinese piece of crap.

[cdowns]

Originally Posted by Sklptrljay

Yeah, forgot to mention I checked the connections. They are fine.

checked them or cleaned them there is a big differance

[Sklptrljay]

Originally Posted by cdowns

checked them or cleaned them there is a big differance

Checked. Only because it started this morning and I didn't have much time. When I get home I'll take a better look at all the connections from battery to starter.

[Sklptrljay]

Okay, did a lot of research while at my kids event today and diagnosed the problem. Seems I had the perfect storm to cause too much heat on my starter.

1. It was a hot day.
2. I have headers.
3. I had just adjusted my carb and leaned it out.
4. Drove it until it was good and warmed up then stopped the engine for about 5 minutes before trying to restart. That makes everything even hotter.

I put in a relay that lets full voltage get to the starter from the battery. I took it out for a drive tonight. Waited until I got home before shutting it off, and it started back up, no problem.

This site is invaluable. Thanks to everyone who didn't even know they helped by posting in the past about this issue. Mabel is back on the road!

[68gmsee]

Just remember that the starter is still getting hot and will eventually get fried. I would try to find some way to keep the heat from getting to it -either a corvette style heat shield, a home made one or a small mini starter.

[gipper]

That EXACT thing happened to me last year! The solenoid was the culprit. I changed the solenoid and NEVER had the problem again.

[Sklptrljay]

Originally Posted by 68gmsee

Just remember that the starter is still getting hot and will eventually get fried. I would try to find some way to keep the heat from getting to it -either a corvette style heat shield, a home made one or a small mini starter.

It's already a mini starter. I still might make a heat shield though.

[dajn]

Unlikely the battery is the problem but I strongly recommend buying a really expensive optima battery. Especially if you use one battery for multiple things. There around $250 per battery but they are worth every penny in my opinion.

[slow-1]

Glad you got it all worked out...electricity can be baffling.

Great looking truck BTW.