Electrical Prolem (Help!)

[mikeythefireman]

Hey everyone. I gots me a problem. It's on a 1982 J10 with a 360.

I left the lights on a week ago and the battery died. When I charged the battery the truck started up no problem. I drove it for about 20 minutes, shut it off and tried to restart. It acted like the battery was still dead. Next morning I jumped it again and it started up and ran no problem. Got to work, turned it off and it wouldn't start again. Charged it fully, drove it aruond for an hour or so, got home, turned it off, and it wouldn't start again. Every time it wouldn't start it did the exact same thing. A click or two and then nothing.

Had the battery tested, it's good. Had the alternator tested, it's good. All the wires look cool, all the connections look good. Any ideas?

Thanks.

[dirty dykstra]

Are Your Terminals Ceroded Behind The Conectors Or Any Other Wire That Cairies The Power Sorce

[D4x4Fish]

Using a volt meter, set 12 volts dc put the neg probe on the positive battery termal and place the pos probe on the cable around the the positive battery termal. What your looking for is an increase of voltage. If everything on the connection is good there should be no voltage, any sign of voltage is a bad connection. test all connection from the battery post to the starter connection. Due the same on the negitive side of the battery.

with the engine off read voltage 12-12.5 volts. Start engine turn on lights and read voltage on the battery post (not cable) Used read 13 -14.5 volts this tests the charging system.

If you can't find the problem look at the starter, Take it in and have it tested.

My :2:

[rick]

Click or two? Like D4x4fish says, check the voltage...is the solenoid just clicking then with good voltage on the battery? It could just be a bad solenoid. Take a screwdriver and jump across the solenoid terminals to see if the solenoid is bad. Or you could follow some mundane procedure to measure the resistance across it or some stuff suggested in an actual service manual, but the screwdriver is much more fun...

[mikeythefireman]

I'm not thinking starter. This thing starts better than a new car when the battery is charged. Basically the battery is either not getting charged, or not holding the charge. I'm just tryin' to finger out why when the components test out as being good.

[mikeythefireman]

Anyone ever hear of testing your alternator/alternator connections by disconnecting the battery when the engine is running? Does that work?

[Dukes69]

yes , it works. I think you only need to take the negetive side off.

[mikeythefireman]

Oh. Ok. That probably means something bad then, cause it died when I disconnected it, but I only took off the positive side. Hmmmm...

[D4x4Fish]

Anyone ever hear of testing your alternator/alternator connections by disconnecting the battery when the engine is running? Does that work?

This will only tell you that your alternator is puting out 10 volts or more. Not enough juice to keep your Battery charged. 10 Volts or less and the engine light comes on.

I see that your engine died after lifting the battery post. This points to the alterntor. Kragen/ Auto zone will test your system on the vechical for free or take the part in.

[mikeythefireman]

Good to know. Kinda thinking it might be something internal in the alternator. Everything else looks/tests kosher. Uh....there's no engine light on this bad boy.

I'll have to find a local place that'll test it on the truck.

[D4x4Fish]

Let me know what you find

[mikeythefireman]

Alternator go bye bye. Replaced it and everything is hunky dory. Turns out the alternator was actually making a kind of ticking noise that I never really focused on before. Once the alternator was unplugged the noise went away. New alternator, no noise and lots of juicel. Yay!

[mikeythefireman]

THANKS everyone for the help and advice!!!

[Dukes69]

good work!

[mikeythefireman]

I feel kinda silly that it was something so simple, but the wifey says I was justified in being worried and being stoked that I fixed it cause the alternator did test out prefectly.

Interestingly enough, I've got a gauge on the dash that measures some kind of electical charge, not sure what (guessing amps cause it goes to 60 and it's a 60 amp alternator, but I don't know) anyhow I assumed the gauge didn't work correctly cause it never moved. It works.