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Bad batteries or Alt.

Mackfire68

Mackfire68

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Can anybody help? I charged the batteries to take the duece out over the weekend. It took me a few minutes to get it started but that was to be expected, 35 degrees and I haven't started it in a few weeks. It always is hard to start when cold but once warmed up it will restart easily. I drove around for about an hour. The next day, the batteries seamed almost dead and I bearly got the duece started. My question is are my batteries bad or is the alternator not working? The guage in the dash reads in the yellow almost into green. What is the best way to check the output of the alternator and the batteries?
 

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Recovry4x4

Recovry4x4

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Voltmeter across the batts with the truck running. Should not be reading the same voltage as when the truck is off.
 
P

poppop

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Check the batteries indivdally with a load tester. that will tell you if you have a bad battery. A battery can read 12 volts with a volt meter and fail a load test. A bad battery could also take a charge and work today but be to weak tommorow to start the truck.
 
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beaubeau

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Also, does the Batt. gauge read in the Green when running? If so, it is charging, and the Batts. may not hold the charge.Alt is good, batts. are bad. Good luck, Phil
 
halftrack

halftrack

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If the needle is not in the center of the green, then it is a bad alt. If the neddle is riding in between the yellow/green line, then it is a weak alt and is still bad. I've seen it a dozen times. It needs to be all the way in the green zone. I also have seen some alts. last a long time and some only last a year. There is an adjustment screw on them to crank up the charging volts on them, however, it very rarely works if at all.
 
ida34

ida34

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It may not necessarily be a bad alt. A slipping belt will give a low volt reading even though the alt is good. Point being. Load test the batteries. Check the belts on the alt. Check the connections of the cables. If all the above is good then check the alt by taking it to a reputable alt shop. Do not take it to Autozone or such as they will have the knowledge to test a 24 volt military alt. If everything checks out good then look for some type off load pulling the batteries down when it is sitting.
 
m139h2otruck

m139h2otruck

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I suggest the best addition we can all add to our low use trucks is a solar charger of some type to keep the batteries chaged. All the problems with batteries, starting and charging systems would be, in my best guess, reduced if the batteries stayed fully charged. Not trying to preach, just an observation from the amount of posts about these subjects. A soler charger is about the same or less than one good battery, and if the battery life is 3 years instead of 12-16 months, you pay for it quickly.
 
Mackfire68

Mackfire68

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ENOLA, PA
Mackfire68 said:
Can anybody help? I charged the batteries to take the duece out over the weekend. It took me a few minutes to get it started but that was to be expected, 35 degrees and I haven't started it in a few weeks. It always is hard to start when cold but once warmed up it will restart easily. I drove around for about an hour. The next day, the batteries seamed almost dead and I bearly got the duece started. My question is are my batteries bad or is the alternator not working? The guage in the dash reads in the yellow almost into green. What is the best way to check the output of the alternator and the batteries?
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the help> I determined the alternator was bad, removed it and took it to a shop to have it rebuilt. Bench test proved my assumption, 0 volts. The shop did'nt get back to me yet on a price to rebuild it, Memphis Truck has one for $420. Anybody know where to get one cheaper if the rebuild costs as much as Memphis??
 
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