Weak battery

[landtoy80]

The wife went to start the 80 and it didn't want to turn over. She tried again and it turnover very slowly but started.
She drove about 5mi in the country and stopped and shut it off. It is dead this time and wont start.
Don't know if a door was left ajar or not.
If the battery is weak, can it still be tested with a battery tester to see if its good or does it need to be charged to test?

If bad, are all batterys the same? Is an Interstate battery any better than a discount store (with their name on it like Farm & Fleete)?

 

[Photoman]

Kurt,

To do a load test the battery needs to be charged.

You may want to check the alternator and make sure it's working right too.

Bill

 

[NovaFZJ80]

For what its worth, the 93 LC that i bought last Dec came with an interstate battery...could tell that the previous owner put a stereo system in it of some sort (wires hanging from the battery terminal thats been snipped/tape off)...did leave the door ajar once overnite...next morning went to crank it up and started up right away...never had that done with a Sears Die Hard...

 

[Doc]

Cruiser Dan once said that interstate is the stateside factory replacement battery....

 

[landtoy80]

Checked the voltage and its 10.5 V before starting. It wouldn't start. Jumped it and it puts out 14.25 V.
I shut it off and hooked up my new DieHard charger.
Put the selector on 10Amp and pur it on Conventional/LowMaintenance. The meter on the charger would jump back an forth from 0 to 10 amps and the FUll Charge light would flash.
If I put it on Maintenance Free/DeepCycle it would stay at 10amps.

Its a 4yr old Carquest 72 mo battery from the PO, So there is no receipt. Don't know how to tell if its a Conventional/LowMaintenance or a Maintenance Free battery?

 

[landtank]

Is this the same battery that was poorly installed with some sort of hair gel on the terminals that was giving your starter fits?

If so, that condition would have raised hell with it.

 

[concretejungle]

Cruiser Dan once said that interstate is the stateside factory replacement battery....

yea and Bobby Labonte drives the race car ..............now back to your local programs.

 

[97 FZJ80]

Checked the voltage and its 10.5 V before starting. It wouldn't start. Jumped it and it puts out 14.25 V.
I shut it off and hooked up my new DieHard charger.
Put the selector on 10Amp and pur it on Conventional/LowMaintenance. The meter on the charger would jump back an forth from 0 to 10 amps and the FUll Charge light would flash.
If I put it on Maintenance Free/DeepCycle it would stay at 10amps.

It behaved like my original Panasonic when it died suddenly at 5 1/2 years of service. The charger thinks that it's full-charge-full and as soon as put a load on it, it drops to 10.5V. I think the charger sense the battery being "full
and puts a small load to "test" it which promptly put it into the charge mode.

You have a bad cell in that battery and you will need to replace it with a new battery.

John

 

[yomama]

The battery could very well be toast. At 10.5 volts it won't start. I believe you need to be over 11.5 to start....
Battery cold be internally shorted, or your charging system is failed.

Yomama

 

[landtoy80]

Its a maintnance free battery. I put it on mainfree and it is charging at 10 amps.

I found an Interstate battery for $85 with 800 CCA

THe battery I have now has 1000cca.
Do I need more than 800cca?

I can get 1000cca batterys from a discount store for about $50+.
Is the Interstate worth the extra $$$

 

[yomama]

Wisconsin? No garage? Cruisers notorious for requiring a "couple extra cranks", I would recommend the biggest CCA you can get...

Yomama

 

[landtoy80]

The battery charger is jumping again so the battery must be bad.

The Interstate battery has 1000 cranking amps and 800cold cranking amps.

 

[yomama]

Go with the Interstate and get that bad battery off the charger before you need to replace that too....

If you have allot of accessories you may consider a deep cycle battery even...

Yomama

 

[RavenTai]

CCA instead of CA or MCA is the # you want to shop with, also try to get the amp-hour (AH) rating not all manufacturers give an AH rating, you can make a small battery (in physical size) that will provide a high CCA but AH and life expectancy will suffer, a large battery with a medium CCA and good AH will have thick plates and may last longer


I have an interstate in my 80 it starts ok when fully charged but has little reserve, it cannot survive any of the abusive things I do to it, (leave door agar half the day ect) I have had to charge it several times including yesterday after I left the rear hatch open wile working on the rear axle (it is a handy table for the FSM and other clean items), I am not sure how old it is (PO install) but it looks fairly fresh, it is much smaller than the battery tray can hold, and only 650 CCA witch I believe is the factory recommended size, I would consider that a minimum

 

[RavenTai]

oh and give this a read next time you have a couple of hours to spare


http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/index.htm

 

[NorCalDoug]

...it cannot survive any of the abusive things I do to it, (leave door agar half the day ect) I have had to charge it several times including yesterday after I left the rear hatch open...

Dude - you need to get some of George S.'s LED's

 

[landtoy80]

I got the Interstate battery MTP-24F. Got home and the battery is a 24 but the plastic cover says 24F.
The 24 is a right side + , we need a left +. Called Interstate, they said to go and get the 34R 700CCAand its a smaller battery than the 24F. They said they would ship me the 24F special order so I get it on Wen. so they could swap out the 34R that they gave me to get by with.

The 24F has a 125 reserve (that is if the lady read the chart right)


I call Interstate and asked about putting a DeepCycle Starting battery in, he said that its not good to use a deepcycle as a starting battery. When the deepcycle battery gets drained, its hard on the alt. He said that I would want to add a Deepcycle battery and use an isolator as the isolator will keep the deepcycle battery from sucking so much (volts/amps???) from the alt.

 

[landtoy80]

NorCalDoug, Can I use your avatar as a mascot for the TURD?

 

[sjcruiser]

I call Interstate and asked about putting a DeepCycle Starting battery in, he said that its not good to use a deepcycle as a starting battery. When the deepcycle battery gets drained, its hard on the alt. He said that I would want to add a Deepcycle battery and use an isolator as the isolator will keep the deepcycle battery from sucking so much (volts/amps???) from the alt.

He's correct. However, in reality, how often does a battery get drained (let alone a deep cycle one) ?
What I'm trying to say is, get whatever that best fits your need and usage.

cheers,
Frank.

 

[landtoy80]

I told him I had a winch and other acc. so draining the battery would be often.
My 60 had a stero with an amp. It would drain down my car battery in an hour or so.
I put in my old deepcycle trolling motor batery and it would drain down too but it took a little longer but it didn't last very long.