Figured i would start a thread and quit hijacking the chat. I took the alt. to alternators unlimited and they said it looked almost brand new on the inside. Not the alternator. I took the battery back to advance auto and they checked it. Said it was good but they are charging it for me overnight and then we will check it again. If it does not improve they will defect it out and give me a new one.
I guess i am going to have to trace down the wiring and see if i find something. I put a new terminal on the positive side and the negative does not look bad to me. I dunno!!
oh and i had to have it jumped off last night then rev the engine to 3500 rpms to get necessary power to run lights. This morning it starts right up. Go figure. I wonder if i have a bad pully or something freezing up as well.
I would stick with the battery issue. I have charged batteries before that looked good, but the real test is if it drops to 11 volts after 24 hours. Let them charge it on there big machine, then let it sit for 24 hours without using the alt. to constantly charge it and see if it will hold voltage. If it drops after that get a new battery. It should be able to be fully charged and hold a charge on it's own.
Don't put it back in the vehicle in case something is drawing it down. Verify the battery outside of the vehicle, like you did the alt. Then you can start tracing wires if both have checked out.
The cold weather is a bitch....I'm running the choke every time I'm starting up since monday....with the weather it doesn't take long for the engine to get really cold......so it's needing the choke to keep the engine running....after a few min it warms up and we're good to go.
my battery is not enjoying the cold weather or the high compression diesel either.
Had to start parking in the garage to keep the over night temps a little higher.
usually extreme temps will be when a battery starts showing how weak it really is. My money is on a weak cell on the battery. If it's charging some times but not all the time it's not a bad fuse link. If it's not charging at all then definitely check the fusible link between alt and battery terminal.
Might be a stupid question but did they test it or just visually inspect it? Having to rev the engine to get voltage sounds like the alternator, assuming all wiring connections are tight. I don't know what vehicle this is in but on the older trucks, the voltage regulator is separate from the alternator. If you have this set-up, be sure to check the remote regulator.
The alternator shop checked it on a machine and also took it apart and checked the brushes. They said that it looked almost brand new. The battery checked good as well. I am going to replace the belt and check the wiring.
So the battery held its own charge after 24 hours? I thought you just got it back today? I have had batteries tested, charged, told they were great and after a day sitting on the shelf drop like a rock.
