I know why Luke hates Old Stage Road.... 
The family had a trip planned to do some easy trails today, with a run through Mt Baldy and then on through Cripple Creek to make the Shelf Road/Phantom Canyon loop. We had the cooler packed and everyone was excited.
We went up Old Stage Rd and the first few miles were as smooth as glass. It abruptly turned to washboards and we spent a few miles rattling our teeth out before I pulled over at the Dome overlook to air down some. After I had aired down, I got back in the truck and prepared to continue the trip.
Turned the key and got nothing. The voltmeter was reading about 6 volts, not enough to crank the engine. Connections were all clean and secure.
Luckily, the road was pretty busy today and the first person I asked had some jumper cables. Got it jump started and the alternator was putting out plenty of juice (voltmeter looked fairly normal when running). We headed back to town and stopped at Sears. Turned off the truck, tried to restart, and ... NADA. 6 volts again. My 2.5 year old Toyota-brand battery was officially dead. It had been consistently strong before today.
Put in a new battery and all is well now.
I am suspecting the jarring of the washboard road led to some internal breakage in the battery.
Lessons learned -
1. Air down before the washboards
2. Carry jumper cables, even when it's not cold outside
3. The AGM batteries like Optima or Sears Platinum may be a better choice if doing a lot of washboard roads.
I considered the alternator as the fault, but given the lack of dash lights and the "normal" look of the voltmeter when running, it looked like it was working fine. Double-checked when I got home. My multimeter said the new battery had ~13 volts at rest and ~15 volts running, so the alternator seems to be doing its job.
The family had a trip planned to do some easy trails today, with a run through Mt Baldy and then on through Cripple Creek to make the Shelf Road/Phantom Canyon loop. We had the cooler packed and everyone was excited.
We went up Old Stage Rd and the first few miles were as smooth as glass. It abruptly turned to washboards and we spent a few miles rattling our teeth out before I pulled over at the Dome overlook to air down some. After I had aired down, I got back in the truck and prepared to continue the trip.
Turned the key and got nothing. The voltmeter was reading about 6 volts, not enough to crank the engine. Connections were all clean and secure.
Luckily, the road was pretty busy today and the first person I asked had some jumper cables. Got it jump started and the alternator was putting out plenty of juice (voltmeter looked fairly normal when running). We headed back to town and stopped at Sears. Turned off the truck, tried to restart, and ... NADA. 6 volts again. My 2.5 year old Toyota-brand battery was officially dead. It had been consistently strong before today.
Put in a new battery and all is well now.
I am suspecting the jarring of the washboard road led to some internal breakage in the battery.
Lessons learned -
1. Air down before the washboards
2. Carry jumper cables, even when it's not cold outside
3. The AGM batteries like Optima or Sears Platinum may be a better choice if doing a lot of washboard roads.
I considered the alternator as the fault, but given the lack of dash lights and the "normal" look of the voltmeter when running, it looked like it was working fine. Double-checked when I got home. My multimeter said the new battery had ~13 volts at rest and ~15 volts running, so the alternator seems to be doing its job.
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