Starting troubles, advice requested

Seems our deuce is having a problem with it's batteries not charging. About a month after we got it, we took it on a short trip down the road and shut it off. When we tried to restart it, it was dead, would not even crank. We got a jump to restart and brought it home.

We assumed that the batteries in it were just old, since they were the ones we got with the truck, so we replaced them. Everything seemed fine for another week. Then, we went to get diesel for it, and once at the gas station, we were BARELY able to get it to restart.

Brought it home again, and it has refused to restart since then.

Our guess is that the alternator is just not charging the batteries, or is charging them very weakly and over an extended period, the drain gets ahead of the charge, and you're left stranded. WHen running, the alternator guage needle never climbs out of the yellow compeletely, it'll get close, but always stays borderline.

We're fortunate enough to have a copy of the official army service manuals on CD ROM in .pdf format, and we have enough faith in our mechanical skills to troubleshoot it, but if anyone would know in advance if there's a "Favorite" way the charging circut likes to fail, we'd appreciate the help

thanks

LTR!

You need to check the output of the alternator with a meter! That will tell you if that is the problem! (I'm sure that you thought of that!)

On my Deuce, when I first start it up, the gauge is still in the yellow for a few minutes! As soon as I bump it up to 800/900 rpm's, it is solidly in the green!

There are three things that I would recommend!

1) Install a battery diconnect on the GROUND cable at the battery post! This will keep anything in the system from draing your batteries! The one that I have on my Deuce has a knob that you turn to open the circuit!
This is also a great way to keep unauthorized people from trying to start your truck!

2) I installed a battery charger that is designed for a 24 volt application! It has a dual set of leads that go to each battery! Once the batteries are fully charged, it will keep a float charge on the pair of batteries at all times!

3) Make sure that all of the battery connections are clean and tight! ANY corrosion will suck the juice out of the batteries!

I replaced ALL of the clamps on the battery cables and cleaned everything up in my truck, and it made a big difference!

Good luck! <img src="emoticons/icon_smile_thumzup.gif" alt="Thumb Up">

LH7

LTRN;
LH is right. I have done close to the same deal on my truck too (working for AutoZone part-time helps too!). Look to apply some battery terminal grease (a silver halide in a gelitan) on the posts and terminals to prevent corrosion and improve contact with the electrical system. Put it on any bare wires on the terminals if the heat shrink has cracked. Good luck!

You people are on the right track. Actual voltage reading with the meter no load with engine ideling with an alternator should read between 27.50 and 28 volts. This is best. Providing that the volt meter gauge is accurate the needle should always be in the green zone. Usually mid way up. This is where mine has been ever since we got it. We have never had an electrical problem. Hope you get your problem solved. Keep on Duecing

Don't forget that if you have the 60amp alt there a voltage adjustment screw located under the allen screw on the alt located next to where the heavy (+) lead wire comes out of the little box

We're pretty sure it's not a voltage regulation issue, we actualy bypassed the voltage regulator in a brief test so that the alternator would produce the "maxiumum juice" that it could, and it's still nowhere near what it should be, so I think it's just a case of worn alternator brushes. The needle gets just BARELY into the green, not to the point where the white hash mark denotes "normal" charging, none of the wireing looks frayed or corroded, and the batteries as well as the terminals are new and clean

RIght now, we just hook up our battery chargers ( 2 12 volt ones) whenever it sits for too long to prevent a discharge, once charged, you can easily get a dozen starts out of it.

I might add this to this thread. I had the displeasure of running down the batteries in my M1009. Instead of actually charging the batteries, I swapped them into my M275A2 and took it for a long drive. The batteries never really recovered from the discharge while in the deuce. I had to charge them with the charger to get them back up. They stay up real nice now. My gauge reads in the green.

R 4X4;
The alternator is degigned to replace juice used in the starting process and maintain the charge in the batteries. It is not designed to be a re-charger. Using the alternator to recharge the batteries only burns out the brushes and stator windings. Using a stereo amplifier also kills alternators. The only way to recharge a good battery that has a low charge is to put it on a battery recharger and preferably on a slow drip setting.

And speaking of all this charging, does anybody have a source for the EDTA? I have half a dozen 6TLs that I want to rejuvenate. If I get 4 out of 6, I'll be doing well.

REC4X4!

Give www.pulsetech.com a try!

They should have a solution for your battery problems! <img src="emoticons/icon_smile_cool.gif" alt="Cool">

cten!

I went back and dug this out of the past! I hope it will shed some light on your problem! <img src="emoticons/icon_smile_question.gif" alt="Question"> <img src="emoticons/icon_smile_help.gif" alt="Help">

For what it's worth, we've ditched the 12v automotive batteries for geniune milspec ones, when the weather turned cold on us this winter, 12v's just didn't have the cold-cranking power to get us started.

We also had problems with fuel contamination or somthing along those lines so we started mixing a little kerosene into the tank and things seem better now

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