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| Trouble shooting battery issues https://slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=57902 |
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| Author: | DougFrankenstein [ Tue Jun 16, 2015 2:14 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Trouble shooting battery issues |
Yesterday my battery which was a little more than 2 months old died. Recently I replaced the battery, the alternator, and the cigarette lighter. Everything was installed correctly and was working fine until last night. It took several jumps to get home because the battery could barely hold a charge. A coworker of mine told me that it's definitely a battery problem and not anything else. The battery Was completely dead and was dripping slightly when I bought it to autozone. The new battery works great but I'm wondering if perhaps I have a major drain on the battery or if my alternator isn't working right or if I was just sold a bad battery or if there are any other issues that I may not be aware of or am overlooking. I'm just looking to trouble shoot any possible issues with my battery etc. I apologize if my problem seems vague. |
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| Author: | Joshie225 [ Tue Jun 16, 2015 3:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
All I can tell from what you wrote is that the battery, alternator and cigarette lighter were all new 2 months ago and that the battery was found dead last night. I see no evidence of any troubleshooting steps. No evidence the charging system is working. No steps taken to see if the battery is being drained. I don't see that you attempted to charge the battery so I can't even trust that "...the battery could barely hold a charge." is true. Do you have a volt meter? |
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| Author: | Reed [ Tue Jun 16, 2015 3:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Trouble shooting battery issues |
Quote: The battery Was completely dead and was dripping slightly when I bought it to autozone.
Ditto what Josh said.Can you describe the dripping a bit more? Was it dripping from the caps on the top of the battery or from a crack on the side or bottom of the battery? Was it dripping acid/water or something else? |
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| Author: | DougFrankenstein [ Tue Jun 16, 2015 4:20 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
I had the battery charged and had to have it jumped several times just to get home. The batter was definitely completely bad because charging it at autozone didn't work and it read very low on their tester. The leaks came from one of the caps on the top. I don't have a volt reader. I was wondering what steps I could take to trouble shoot because I'm very new to working on electrical systems and I'm not sure where exactly I should start. I'm sorry if this all seems vague. I'm trying to describe it as best as possible. |
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| Author: | GTS225 [ Tue Jun 16, 2015 5:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Step one; Get a decent volt/ohm meter, and learn how to use it. NOT one that cost $11 bucks at Harbor Freight. A "decent" one will set you back 50-80 bucks. A GOOD one, like my Fluke at work, runs anywhere from 160 (on the low end)-300 or more for the more advanced models. You're gonna need one when you start looking at electrical problems. It will show you voltages, check for continuity in wires, voltage drops at poor connections, bad switch and relay contacts, etc. I know, it hurts a little laying out that kinda coin for something you may not use often, but rest assured, a good tool like that will help in the long run, especially if you hang around old cars for any length of time. Roger |
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| Author: | SlantSixDan [ Tue Jun 16, 2015 5:12 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Trouble shooting battery issues |
Quote: autozone
Great place to get lousy parts.
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| Author: | DougFrankenstein [ Tue Jun 16, 2015 6:37 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
I will look into the voltage meeter and try to find a good one at a decent price. As for autozone, it's 3 blocks away from my apartment. I was able to carry my battery there and back |
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| Author: | emsvitil [ Wed Jun 17, 2015 12:20 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
I like the harbor freight freebie meters......... It quits working, you throw it away. I test them against my good meters. There is a pot for voltage adjustment and you can fiddle with the 10 amp shunt to get it to match the 'good meter'. |
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| Author: | Charrlie_S [ Wed Jun 17, 2015 3:19 am ] |
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Quote: I like the harbor freight freebie meters.........
Yeah, me too. I have a "good" meter for critical work, but each of my cars have a HF meter in the clove box
It quits working, you throw it away. . |
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| Author: | 65Dodge100 [ Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:54 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Starting, battery, charging problems are the worst. It takes testing tools.You cant guess at it. The battery has to be fully charged to test. So if someone tests it while it's dead or half charged will sell you a new battery which will work for a wile. Starter - can't be checked without a fully charged battery also, so could be bad and drawing too many amps. You can't guess like all the others, it has to be tested correctly.I've had batteries right on the edge. I couldn't prove them bad. But they kept leaving me in the boonies. Someone, not me, took it to a shop and they put a new starter on it. Didn't fix a thing. All it needed was a battery. alternator - the easiest to test if you have the tools. Or if you go to autozone and ask for the right thing. They are idiots. They have the tools but are trained to sell you a battery. Get a little 10 amp charger from walmat or anywhere. Make sure the battery is charged overnight and then let them check the alternator but in this case it doesn't matter. Even with a dead battery, they can detect an alternator that is not charging.. Danny |
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