First about the noise, if it is squeeling , it could be from a lose belt or bad bearing ... If the noise is grinding , it could be sticking starter.
I was hesitant to call the noise a 'squealing' because this wasn't really the kind of 'loose belt' squeal I've heard before... It was more of a loud, rapid 'ehhhh, ehhhhh, ehhhh' sound that seemed to be coming from the alternator.
you didn't say if that noise changed or went away when you were driving it.
Sorry, I should have mentioned that (I meant too, since it's probably pretty important)... After the 'pop,' the noise went away and the engine sounded like it normally sounds when it is running... Because of the voltage drop, etc. I figured the alt. belt had snapped, since the noise seemed to be coming from the alt. when I looked under the hood (although that didn't really make sense to me since belts usually squeal when they're loose and I didn't think that a loose belt could/would snap). Since I was only a few minutes away from home, I thought I could get home on just the battery.
When you put the neg batt cable and you see spark, this might indicate the possitve side of the circit is touching groung , something is shorted somewhere in the main circit. You need to trace your main circit and find you short. The batt should be taken back and tested if it is new.
Thanks, apparently the truck has a 'drain' (short?) in it somewhere (the PO told me his friend had rewired a lot of the stuff but that I should keep the negative terminal disconnected overnight, etc. or else the battery will drain). The battery isn't exactly 'new' (it's a 1-2 year old deep cycle battery that doesn't get much use -- I just needed something to start the truck with temporarily).
The pop sound could be a main fuse blown.
That would be nice, but I'm guessing, now that you know the 'pop' sound put and end to the 'squealing', it might have been the alt., etc. going??
Also signals not working , more likely the power from the ignition (on) is open, which also may mean power to your ignition is open which means no firing ,no start.
You didn't mention if you have an ameter and if so how it is wired between the batt and alternator.
The ammeter is the standard, in-dash one that comes with (all?) FJ40s... I'm pretty sure it was reading below 0 after the 'pop'...
I am no expert, but I would start testing and checking my circits and see what is getting power and what is not. The wiring diagram plus an insight to how your 283 and alt is wired would be very helful in saving time checking things out.
That's a good idea, but it will definately take a while: it seems there has been a lot of re-wiring in this thing but since I didn't do it and have no diagram showing how it was done it'll probably be a learning experience.
The voltmeter might be wired straight to the batt and it will read whatever voltage is present , not much help from that.
It's very possible: when I had the jumper cables hooked up to the battery and another running car the voltmeter was up around 12 V.
No reason to think it is something major yet. If you are very confident about it, take it to an expert.
And best of luck
I'll do what I can about it but I'll probably end up taking it in to a wiring shop or something... Might be best to just get the whole thing re-wired properly rather than trying to figure it all out (like I said, I can do a bit of wiring but a lot of this stuff will probably be beyond me).
Close to 12V? Had 2 volts after the 'pop'?
Yeah, it was weird... It seemed that my gauge cluster had lost power: the most noticable thing was that the voltmeter was reading around 2V (maybe closer to 0)...
If it starts, measure the voltage at the battery again. It should read above 14 volts. If it doesn't, the alternator is bad.
Thanks, I'll try that out...
I am going to guess your alt is toast. The squealing sound was the alt giving up due to bearing failure or some electrical failure and the "pop" is when it finally let go. While your alt was dying your truck was probably only running on battery power and now it is severely discharged which is one reason it won't turn over the starter. Your fusible link could also be toast along with any circuit not protected with a fuse.
Thanks, that sounds like what I thought might have happened at first... However, since the truck wouldn't 'jump start,' I thought it might have been something else... The battery seems to be holding some charge after the jump start: the headlights glow brightly, and it's registering around 11V on the voltmeter but it might be a little too low. I'll try jump starting it again, and charging the battery and let you know how that works...
You are not real clear with your story when you say you have a burn mark on your finger but don't remember arcing your new battery to ground with said wrench... That little incident could have done something to your new battery and it would appear your memory.
Basically I connected the positive terminal to the battery, tightened it, then connected the negative terminal to the battery and while I was tightening it it shocked me. I was using a metal wrench so I thought it might be possible that I touched the positive temrinal with the other side of the wrench or something (I don't know if this would do anything or not). I'm pretty sure that the negative terminal was in contact with the negative battery post the whole time but since there was arcing maybe not... At first, the negative terminal was a bit too tight when I was putting it onto the post so I think I loosened it up a bit and maybe that's when the arcing happened but I'm pretty sure it was while the terminal was on the post and I was tightening it... Even if there was arcing from the terminal to the ground though, could this have fried the brake light/turn signal circuits?
Pull the alt and take it to a shop with a tester and someone who knows how to use it. You may as well drag your new battery along and have it tested while you are at it since it may have issues also. Let us know what you find.
I'm gonna try to get the car running before I test the alt., but can't the alt. be tested while it's in the vehicle (the way Coolerman suggested)?? The last time my alt. went I had a friend of mine replace it for me. He ended up replacing it with a used one and couldn't figure out why he wasn't getting a reading on the tester while the car was running... I ended up taking the car in to a place that specializes in auto. electrics and the guy told me the alt. was fried... Go figure...
This may sound stupid, but I ve seen it before. a guy at work hooked the cable up backwards and it did pretty much what your describing. Truck did crank and the alt fried and the battery blew a hole in the side of it.
The terminals were connected to the correct posts (+ to +, - to -), and the battery is in one piece.
Thanks again. I'll try to jump it in a couple of hours/start it up with a different battery (and this one, once it's charged) and let you know what I find (I've got some snow to shovel over here, etc.). In the meantime, if the fact that the 'squealing' went away after the 'pop' means anything to anyone please post what it could have been.
