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electrical issues

Kain

Kain

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I am trying to trace down what is draining the battery over night. I have an alarm and I think that might be causing it but not sure. over the last few weeks something would kill the battery overnight then it wont start.
charge the battery the starter would still not work. changed it for a new one(lifetime warranty part from o'reilly)

yet again the battery is dead funny I started it and drove across town to drop of a gift to a friend, when
I went to leave it wouldnt start and the starter made the worst sound like it is shorting out even after it was running. drove home and unplugged battery and checked voltage. it has 11.8 volts. my question, am I just getting a bad run of starters or is my alarm killing the battery then the starter from not having volts.Or just battery going bad?

I checked the alternator and i am getting 14.5 volts when running at the battery. load test on battery says its good.also the test on the alternator when it is running says its good.

Every check that i do says the battery and alternator is good. going to check the starter this morning by taking it down and testing it. Kind of at my whits end messing with it.
 
cable issue or starter likely.

Ignition switches can do weird things when they start to fail too.
 
Kain said:
ya i think ill replace the cables and see if that helps
Click to expand...
Before you replace the cable, check to see if there is a voltage drop from the battery to the starter while trying to start it. Merely checking the resistance from one end to the other won’t tell you if it’s bad.
Also, an alarm that’s not sounding won’t kill a battery overnight. What you can do is, while the truck is off, hook up an ammeter at the battery to see what kind of current is flowing. Should be around 100 milliamps depending on what all is hooked up and what year truck you have (sorry didn’t check). If you find a large current draw then start pulling fuses until the draw goes away. That should narrow your problem down.
 
I just recently found that between the wrong alternator and missing/ bad grounds, I was having the same issues.
 
they got a new supplier of parts there coming from chins now instead of mexico
 
so i did an ohms test on the cables and there is .01 resistance on both . And i couldn't get the amp meter to work right
 
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buy a real starter online. I've had shit luck with starters from the local autoparts stores.
 
ya they have a power master for 149 and it would be just the difference from old to new.

What are you running Skunked?
 
I went to summit to get a new starter for Eileen's Corvette. After 3 rebuilds, the local auto crap store gave up getting me a good one. They said they are at a 30+% return on them.
 
Kain said:
so i did an ohms test on the cables and there is .01 resistance on both cables. there is no voltage drop when trying to start. And i couldn't get the amp meter to work right
Click to expand...
A DMM can't measure 10mOhm. Do you have a mOhm meter? Also, 0.0V drop from battery to the starter motor is impossible during cranking. To measure current you either need a clamp (i.e. Hall-effect sensor) or you have to disconnect the cable somewhere to run the whole circuit through the meter. This is OK while the vehicle is off, but of course can't be done during cranking. Most DMM have 10A fuse for current measurement. For checking drain while ignition is off you will likely use a lower current range - sometimes DMM has a smaller fuse for that. If it's still hooked up that way and you turn the key on, that small fuse will pop.
 
I've had better luck with used OEM starters from salvage yards than the few rebuilt ones I've bought at parts stores --years ago we sold Delco re-mans at one store,and a "bargain brand" a local rebuilder supplied us with--both were equally good,very few comebacks..the rebuilt Delco's were very reliable and we had very few come back "defective"..

Just before I left the last parts store i worked at ,they started selling the imported ones from a warehouse ,that came from mexico.china,and who knows where,and we had nothing but trouble ,it seemed every other one would crap out or act up intermittently after a few weeks--if they worked good at all ,right out of the box..

Many of the ones that came back appeared to have the "old" starter drive re-used,and once it got cold out,the starter would spin,but the drive refused to crank the engine over--some looked to have the original solenoid too..some that came back I tried "testing" on the bench tester and they would show as much as 600 amps draw,a few locked up completely,and refused to spin at all..

One brand in particular was really poor (Arrow I think)--most of their "rebuilt" starters looked like cores they got from a salvage yard, sand blasted & spray painted and never did anything to them internally,other than see if they spun when hooked to a battery..
But they sold well--when you can get a starter for 29.99 vs 80 bucks,most people on a budget chose the cheapie..usually it wasn't much of a bargain..
But some of the high dollar rebuilt or new starters weren't much better either..things have only degraded more since the 90's now that most everything is made overseas or "rebuilt" there..pig in a poke today whether you'll get a "good" part or a p-o-s..no matter who's name is on it..
 
after all this the battery wont hold a charge.........it gets cold it loses its charge. unpluged it after a full charge and the next morning it had only 9.7 volts
 
ya its 6 year old optima was checking at walmart and 100 bucks 5 year free replacement and i need 2
so ill be going to wally world to get batteries
 
I was in Tractor Supply last Sunday,and they had group 31 batteries for $99.99--was tempted to buy two for my truck,but the employee said "oh,were back-ordered on those--we sold about 20 of them this past week"...both the "stud" and "post" type were all sold out..

They sell Exide batteries,which I'm not very fond of,had poor luck with them before,so I was not that upset they were "out of stock"..
He tried steering me towards a group 78 side post battery (which my truck takes,but I hate side posts)--that one was $149.95..I was not willing to spend $300 on two batteries..not when I can buy bigger ones for less..

I noticed on their online sales site the group 31's were listed at $109.95,so I'm guessing they wanted to blow out all the old "on display" batteries ,then they'll jack the price up when they get "fresh" ones in..still cheaper than all the other stores though...but I'm probably going to just look at salvage yards for used batteries that aren't that old and pay $25-35 bucks each ,I've had good luck with them..

I noticed Walmart now sells a cheaper battery than their "Ever Starts" for about $50 for a group 24 or 74...they weigh about half what the more expensive ones do though,so they probably don't have many plates or last anywhere near as long..I cant see why batteries you could buy three years ago for $50 now cost $150...
 
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