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Manny's 83 K10 (INDEX)(56K) Manny answers his critics and FALSE ACCUSATIONS

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4wheelinfury said:
exactly, and I just didn't think they were worth the hype. I went interstate and never had a problem, and that was with the built stereo in my dd.

I thought that Optima was a subdivision of Interstate... :dunno:

Go onto Interstate's website and the Optimas are right there
 
OPtimas are a subdivision of Johnson Controls.
They were their own company until sometime in the early 2000's, Johnson Controls bought them. They still run as if they are they're own company thought.
There's been alot of reports of bad ones in the 2003-2005 range. Last year or 2 have been better. Not sure why exactly that is. My father-in-law, who works for Johnson Controls, said they modifed their mat material to save some money, but now are back to using the original stuff.
 
Yep. I bought two yellow tops about 6 months ago. One of the two was bad. Replaced and works fine now. I will never buy another one. I think 73k5blazer posted about the issues before in another post. Hopefully, it has been resolved in the past 6 months. -Eric
 
Well, alot of people don't read the Optima's little manual that comes with it either, which is the cause of alot of their deaths.
They require a very specific charging routine. A bad charging system will wreck them everytime. The regulators love to go bad in GM alternators and especially cheapy autozone rebuilt alternators, and most people don't even know. They can start to throw full amperage at your battery constantly, and in an Optima's case, that's bad. Alot of cheap home chargers will cook them too.
So, you might look at the manual for the charging requirments, and ensure your charging system is in good shape and meets the requirments, before putting another set of batteries in.
I'm not saying that's your problem, but it never hurts to check.
 
I have come to the realization that, as someone said before, your idle problem with the Holley may actually be timing. For the past week my truck's idle has been a little irratic but not too bad, so today I checked the timing and is was at about 2* initial timing. So I advanced it to about 9* or 10*. The 305 idles smooth as glass now and idles higher than before (already adjusted on the carb to compesate) and most of all I have more responce and power throughout the power band. You might want to look into timing before the carb...

Remember when tuning an engine, always start with the timing. :D
 
make sure your checking for an amp draw with your meter between the bat post and cable, not volt readings... or just use a testlight...
 
hes sayin you want to check amps, you need to find out whats causing the drain, not what has power, an axillary just having power to it is not going to drain your battery but an axillary drawing amperage will, just checkin volts wont tell you that because if your checkin volts under ur dash is pointless because you check that at your battery and it will be the same, since you have an electrical problem i would install your old battery untill you find your problem so you dont have to recharge them, using a test light would simplify your findings of your problem

also knowing how much amperage is being drawn at the battery will narrow it down to what the culprit is, in your case its something that takes alot of amps to run, so its not the radio or something small like that imo, grrrrr i hate electrical its so tedious<spelling check lmao
 
You have the location right. However, using a test light between the neg. lead and the battery may save your meter. If current is flowing out of the battery, the test light will light. The brighter, the more current, (to a point).

Your meter has a max amperage of 10 amps, and the 10 amp side is often unfused. On the other hand, if you use a good test light and have a very strong draw, the most you will do is blow the bulb.

It does sound like a pretty strong draw from your description of the voltage drop. A very high current draw will cause the voltage level to drop, you see this if you have ever watched your volt guage when you start the truck. A starter draws a lot of current.

The only thing I would add to your list of possible culprits, is a short to ground somewhere, but those are the most likely to cause a high current drain. The distributor would probably be the last thing I would check, and the nw relay would be the first.
 
If they just look beat up, I think they'd be fine. But if they don't attach firmly to the posts or you have corrosion creeping into the joint where the cable end attaches to the cable, then i'd replace em.
 
Disconnect the charge wire off of the alternator to start with. Then take a good test light and clip it to the positive bat. terninal. Touch the probe end of the test light to the pos bat cable. It will light up if you have a draw. You may have to tape it to the cable if you don't have a friend to hold it. Open the door of the truck and tape the light swich closed or hold it in. Start pulling the fuses one at a time and watch the test light. If the light doesn't change then put the fuse back in and move to the next one. If the light changes brightness or goes out then you found your draw. Keep in mind there could be one or more draws. Keep pulling til the test light goes out. I would also wire your CB straight to the battery and not on an ignition circuit. It will only drain if it is turned on so there is no need to be on an ignition circuit. Its a pain to have to turn the key on to use a raido in the field.
 
Congrats on the promotion! When I was a flight medic stationed at Fort Sam we used to have to fly up to Hood for admin stuff because that's where our batalion HQ was. That was one hot damn place in the summer dude! Was very glad to get back down south. Truck is looking great BTW, when you get transferred to Ft Lewis we can do a little NW style wheeling - if you can deal with the snow :-)
 
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