DanStew

After changing out my ground cables to the battery, i drove the runner around just fine. Tonight i went to get the kids from Day care, first i stopped by to dump my trash, and i notice my radio going bezerk, it was flashing on and off extremely fast. It remained on and stable once i turned off my headlights. I get to the daycare and grab the kids. I crank up the truck, but it barely turns over. I get a jump from a guy at the day care and go home. The trip home, the lights were barely visible. There was just no juice going to the truck. I had no "charge" lights or CEL lights. I get home and flip on the high beams and it nearly killed the trucks motor. So now i am wondering what to check. I repalced the ground wires, but didnt do the wire from the alternator to the battery. Could this for some reason be taking a load from the battery and killing it? Both battery and alternator checked out good last week. So i am at a loss now on whjat next to check. The fuses are good. I just have no juice. Any suggestions.

akaphilly

check battery and alt again. that happened to me drivin accross the country alone. turned out my alt went bad, then i drove and completly killed my battery. sucked


re-reading... since this happened after you replaced the ground.. first i would do is try putting the old ground on it or somethin?

DanStew

The old cable is in the trash, it had some bad spots in it. When i found out it was the ground cable, thetruck would start or function any lights. But the battery was fully charged. I wiggled the wires and it worked perfectly. I dont have my fluke meter with me to check voltage so I have to wait for tomorrow for that.

abecedarian

check all your fuses and the link on the fender behind the air cleaner?

MMA_Alex

i'd place a bet on one of the connections you changed out being bad. theres no such thing as too much ground.

DanStew

I am thinknig more and more it maybe the alternator. The truck is eaither running completly off the battery, or the alternator is producing extremely low voltage. Still didnt throw a light but i will probably take it out tomorrow

DanStew

Is the link inside a little plastic black box? And all it is is a lug connecting the cable from the alternator to the other cable to the fuse block? Or is there more to it?

annoyingrob

There's no such thing as "too much ground". Make sure the cable you replaced has good contact at both ends. A multimeter can help a lot here.

desertcox05

like already stated, ck the connections on the gnd since that's the last thing you touched. also ck the pos batt cable from the alt to the batt and look for corrosion at the inside the insulation. cars run off the alt, and the battery is there for back up and for starting.

MMA_Alex

if you want to check the alt put a voltmeter on the battery, and then start it and do the same.

engine off should be 12.something V
engine on should be 13.8-14.2v

I kinda doubt the alt isnt working properly because the battery, and (!) lights aren't on.

atistang

your alternator was probably working extra hard when you had the bad ground, what is the voltage coming out of your alternator? its a good chance that it finally pooped out on you

otherwise i would go back over all the grounds you cleaned/replaced and make sure they are tight

DanStew

I just put the Volt meter to the truck

12.22v truck had been sitting in driveway since last night
started truck (barely)
Volts are at 9.10, then slooooowly climbed about 1 volt.
It got to 9.20V after about a minute, then i shut it down
After it was shutdown, the battery srpang up to 11.40, then slowly climbed a volt till i pulled the meter off at 11.6 V

So it looks like the alternator is not putting anything out.
On a side note, after i rebuilt the motor i had this squeal at startup every so often. Never could find it and it had been doing it since March. But after i pulled the alternator off the first time, i havnt had it make the sound at all. It could have been the belt, but i am curious if it was something internal.

DanStew

It was something stupid everyone!!

I went back to the truck and was going to pull the alternator, first i was going to run a continuity check on the main terminal on the alternator and ichecked the plastic plug that goes on the alternator and it was not fully seated. I pushed it in and make it click. Then i jumped the truck to start and now have 13.95 volts at the battery when running. So i am going to keep an eye on it now. And cross fingers that it was just something stupid so i do not have to spend any $$ I am guessing the plug is the energizer circuit for the alnternator.

Thanks for the help guys!!