Junkers88

Ok dude I went out and checked the battery and alternator on the 89 4runner.

I used a "FLUKE 87 III True RMS Multimeter" if that helps. I set it to DC V, it's the second little symbol on the left coming up from the OFF and is a V with 3 dash marks above it and a solid line above that.

Kind of like this
___
---
V

With the rig off the battery read 12.61. (I'm guessing volts?)
With the rig running and at high idle the battery read 14.28 and climbed to 14.40 before leveling off.
With the rig at normal idle (750 rpms) the battery went down to 13.85 and dropped rather fast down to 12.47 and continued to fall slowly.

The alternator at high idle was 14.60 and climbed to 14.85.
Once at normal idle it went from 14.32 down to 12.30 in a damn hurry and continued to fall.

I turned it off and the thing would turn over very very slowly but still fire. It doesn't sound like the starter it just sounds like it's low on battery.



The 86 pickup (same motor and all that) at normal idle (750 rpms).

Battery with the rig off is 12.72
Battery with the rig on is 14.43 (and steady)
Alternator is 14.58 (moves from 14.58 to 14.60 but other wise is steady)

I hope you can make sense of these numbers because I sure as hell can't. All I can infer is that the battery is losing charge and the alternator seems to be the culprit since it drops of the amount of charge that it supplies really fast?

EDIT: I thought it might be the starter relay so I switched it with the one from the truck and it still starts slowly.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Local auto parts place will check your battery/alternator for free.

What aftermarket battery drains do you have on this vehicle? Stereo? CB? Etc? A parasitic drain can kill a battery quick, like a bad ground on an amplifier or something so it never stops sucking power even when you take the key out.

Junkers88

Yeah I know but I've been trying to use this thing as a learning tool. I can pull the bat/alt out in a few minutes (yeah I've learned the art of pulling the alternator out the bottom without dropping the lower rad hose) and take them in in the morning but I'm hoping to figure this one out with the help of the forums and a meter/tool/thing that I don't understand at all.

Junkers88

Wabbit there is a stereo and a speaker tube thing in the rear. Even with the face off of the deck there isn't any change. There is a small blinking light on the face thing but it's tiny and can't draw much.

Oh and there is a freaking rats nest of crap under the dash where some ding bat tried to wire in an alarm. I'll be cutting all of that out as soon as I can although I am going to keep the kill switch and wire it up so it actually works.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

Alternator is working correctly, and with the battery at 12.4V, it is in the acceptable range.

What is the issue with your truck?

Junkers88

It's odd. If it sits for a while it'll start up just fine, as it it cranks quickly. If I let it sit and idle for a while and then try to start it it'll turn over real real slow but still start. The only time I've had it leave me somewhere was when I'd been driving it for about 45 minutes ans stopped at the car wash to blow it off. It did nothing but click. I fiddled with the cables, banged the starter, cussed etc. After about 5 minutes I hit the key again and it made about a half turn of the motor and fired. I went straight home.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Sounds like a bad starter connection or need new contacts/brushes.

Junkers88

God I hate electrical issues.

The starter is new (so said the PO) and I'll pull and clean all the contacts and put some grease on them. I'm also going to check the little wire on top of the starter since 4crawlers site, as well as others here, have said it can work lose if it isn't properly soldered.

Junkers88

Ok it seems that stupidity comes in all forms. In my case it's overlooking the obvious.

I went back to basics in that a good electrical system needs both a good positive and a good ground. While checking the connections on the starter I looked up at the ground on the block and reached up to wiggle it just to check. Yeah it was moving all over the place. Turns out when I pulled against the cable to check it the darn cable was wedged and gave the feeling of being tight. I pulled the ground bolt out of the block, put a lock washer on it and tried starting the rig. It turned over just fine and fired up 20 out of 20 times. And the dash lights work since I turned the dimmer up (DOH!!) and the radio has lost all of the static that it had before.

Now I also found out I still have an alarm in the rig by accident and darn near killed myself when it went off so I'll be pulling that thing out......

This is why I'm going to remove it. This is just terrible.


Thank you to everyone that offered advice. And a huge "Thanks" and "I'm sorry I didn't listen the first time" to those of you that told me over and over to make sure the connections were tight.

desertcox05

that wiring is scary. FYI a good battery should hold about 12-13vdc with the engine off, and 14.5-15 vdc steady engine running. the car/truck runs off the alt. the batt is there for starting and for backup if the alt fails. the sign on the voltmeter means volts dc(direct current) used on batteries.