battery charging problems

HSKR

Registered User
Okay, just got home after a 5 month deployment on the USS John C Stennis. Right before I left, I swapped heads/gaskets due to a cracked head. After I left, my wife Dustie tried driving home Fresno to visit family and the car died on her about halfway there. Her family came and got her and the car and towed them to Fresno where they discovered a bad alternator and some blown fuses. The alternator was replaced as well as the fuses and the car seemed to run fine. After a few days of driving, the car died on her again. Once agian they towed the car to her families house in Fresno and there is sat till a couple weeks ago when they were nice enough to tow it down to San Diego so i coudl work on it when I got home. My wife has been driving it around on short trips since the car has been here without a problem until today when it wouldn't start again due to the battery being dead. Jump started the car and it ran fine after it started and we drove it home. When we gotit home, I broke out my volt meter to take some reading to check the alternator which is what I suspected was the problem. But it was putting out 15V at idle(seems a little high, but it was trying to charge a dead battery) Ran the KOEO and KOER tests using the code reader I have and except for the EGR codes due to EGR being unhooked currently, it passed the tests with no problems. Had to jump start the car to do the tests though. Luckily I have a spare battery in my garage. Put the spare battery in he trunk and went to do some shopping. Didn't have any problems for the rest of the day. Bought a cheap battery charger while I was out and am now charging the battery. I'm just stumped as to why the battery won't keep it's charge while driving even though the alternator seems to be doing it's job. Only other electrical load on the motor that wasn't normal is I had a bypass on the pusher fan hooked up so the fan ran anytime the key was turned on. Any help would be appreciated.
 
You may have a direct short draining your Batt.

Check all power conncetions for grounding...

Another one that bit me...Batt. was fine and it turned out to be an intermitant starter.

Another one that bit me was...My cetner console cover/door had the screws pull through the hing piece and it let the cover/door sit up just high enough to turn on the lil light in the console cavity...And that drained my Batt. over a day of being on...

Next time it does it have your meter with you and check your batt. for voltage. If it is within limits take a closer look at the starter...


Good luck


Brad
 
Re: ...

Have you check your battery with a load tester? Chances are your battery might of got cycle too many times. If your alternator is putting out 15V.. when the battery is low. either the batt. or the alternator has a problem. but
I think your battery is not taking the charge. that's why the voltage is at 15V

Normally.. if the battery is low, the alternator voltage would be lower then normal. (approx. 13.8V) and if the battery is up.. the voltage would be about 14.2V.(hot)

Try running your spare batt. and check the voltage. If the voltage is higher then 15V, then the alternator has a problem. It'll eventually kill the battery.

Also if you use a charger on the battery. Use a volt meter along with it.. to monitor the voltage. cuz if you leave the charger on too long.. the voltage could reach 16V. ( on some charger) with a 10 amp charger.. just bring it up to 14.5V then shut it off.
 
Another one that got me on my old car is the voltage regulator, I know this sounds dumb, specially since the battery dies(mine did the same thing), but with you blowing fuses you might want to check into that.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. The battery doesn't drain overnight or even after a few days of sitting. It only drains while driving it seems, but even that takes a few days of driving. Almost like the laternator stops charging after a while of driving.

With my battery charger hooked up, the battery charged up normally, and has been tested on a load tester and passed just fine(It's an Optima red top)
 
Dead battery

HSKR said:
Okay, just got home after a 5 month deployment on the USS John C Stennis. Right before I left, I swapped heads/gaskets due to a cracked head. After I left, my wife Dustie tried driving home Fresno to visit family and the car died on her about halfway there. Her family came and got her and the car and towed them to Fresno where they discovered a bad alternator and some blown fuses. The alternator was replaced as well as the fuses and the car seemed to run fine. After a few days of driving, the car died on her again. Once agian they towed the car to her families house in Fresno and there is sat till a couple weeks ago when they were nice enough to tow it down to San Diego so i coudl work on it when I got home. My wife has been driving it around on short trips since the car has been here without a problem until today when it wouldn't start again due to the battery being dead. Jump started the car and it ran fine after it started and we drove it home. When we gotit home, I broke out my volt meter to take some reading to check the alternator which is what I suspected was the problem. But it was putting out 15V at idle(seems a little high, but it was trying to charge a dead battery) Ran the KOEO and KOER tests using the code reader I have and except for the EGR codes due to EGR being unhooked currently, it passed the tests with no problems. Had to jump start the car to do the tests though. Luckily I have a spare battery in my garage. Put the spare battery in he trunk and went to do some shopping. Didn't have any problems for the rest of the day. Bought a cheap battery charger while I was out and am now charging the battery. I'm just stumped as to why the battery won't keep it's charge while driving even though the alternator seems to be doing it's job. Only other electrical load on the motor that wasn't normal is I had a bypass on the pusher fan hooked up so the fan ran anytime the key was turned on. Any help would be appreciated.


Next time you try starting it and it appears dead, put a volt meter across the terminals. If it is 12+ volts it might be the starter.
 
Raptor said:
Next time you try starting it and it appears dead, put a volt meter across the terminals. If it is 12+ volts it might be the starter.

The starter works just fine. I did put the meter across the terminals and it was around 11.5V.
 
Optima Batts don't just go bad usually...So it should be pretty easy to break down the problem with what is posted here...

Good luck


Brad
 
Re: ...

HSKR said:
The starter works just fine. I did put the meter across the terminals and it was around 11.5V.

11.5V is a bit low. What if you measure it with a charger hook up? (10Amp charger) If you get about 14.5+ in just a few minutes ... then battery could be bad. But if it reads about.. 12.9V-13.6V then it should be o.k. Then just charge it till it reach about 14.5V * Optima batt. are very sensitive with high voltage. (15V+) It could kill the battery if is charged at those voltage for long period of time.
 
With my 2amp trickle charger hooked up, it read right around 13V and did fully charge up to 14.4V just fine. I know how sensitive the Optimas are. Have killed two in my truck in the last three years due to it's own charging problems from running an underdrive pulley on the alternator, and using a rewound alternator.
 
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