miketx
Diamond Member
- Dec 25, 2015
- 121,555
- 70,543
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- #1
I have an old 99 Taurus that I don't drive much, but it was cheap. Saturday I was going to do some stuff under the carport and I had to move the car out. Mr. Battery was dead, as a door nail. I guess I should have driven it more! So, I went to the garage and got my old battery charger out and hooked it up. It puts out six amps so it should have charged it that day. No dice. I called my son in law to bring his jumper box over and jump me off (my wife has ours) and he did. He hooked it up and when I turned the key to start, I could see a spark at the positive cable. That means you have a bad connection between the battery and the cable end. So I had some more work cut out. SIL had work to do so he left. I took of the battery cables and cleaned them and then connected my six amp charger, my trickle charger and my solar charger and around 6pm I went out to see if it would start. Nothing.
.
About this time the wife got home so I got the jumper box out and hooked it up and it cranked up. Soon as I took the jumper box off the battery, Actually about 30 seconds later, it died. This alarmed me because that can mean the alternator is bad. So I decided to check my chargers output and nothing! it was dead. At this point I decided I needed to get the battery charged so next day I went to the store and got a new 15 amp battery charger and hooked it up. I also checked the new chargers output and it showed over 15 volts. Good. It appeared to start charging so I left it for 4 hours.
I went out to check it and the new charger said it was fully charged, so I go to crank it and nothing. I checked the voltage at the battery terminals and it showed 10.4 volts and a fully charged battery should read 12.6 or higher. So, I need a battery. Today I went to the store and bought an el cheapo one for 56 dollars, half of what auto zone wanted. It is a brand called ever start and has a year warranty. Hope it lasts a lot longer. Anyhow, I got the new battery in, and it read 12.75 volts, and I cleaned the heck out of the terminals again. Got it in and it cranked right up! I checked the alternator output and it showed 14.6 volts so that means the alternator is working. Yay!
If anyone is interested, to check your alternator output with a volt meter do this:
Start the car and turn every thing on. High beams, AC, radio, wipers, EVERYTHING, and have someone rev the engine up and hold it at around 1500 RPM. If the voltage reading at the battery is not less than 13.5 volts you should be good.
The old battery was most likely shorted out, or it would have kept running without the jumper box on it.
.
About this time the wife got home so I got the jumper box out and hooked it up and it cranked up. Soon as I took the jumper box off the battery, Actually about 30 seconds later, it died. This alarmed me because that can mean the alternator is bad. So I decided to check my chargers output and nothing! it was dead. At this point I decided I needed to get the battery charged so next day I went to the store and got a new 15 amp battery charger and hooked it up. I also checked the new chargers output and it showed over 15 volts. Good. It appeared to start charging so I left it for 4 hours.
I went out to check it and the new charger said it was fully charged, so I go to crank it and nothing. I checked the voltage at the battery terminals and it showed 10.4 volts and a fully charged battery should read 12.6 or higher. So, I need a battery. Today I went to the store and bought an el cheapo one for 56 dollars, half of what auto zone wanted. It is a brand called ever start and has a year warranty. Hope it lasts a lot longer. Anyhow, I got the new battery in, and it read 12.75 volts, and I cleaned the heck out of the terminals again. Got it in and it cranked right up! I checked the alternator output and it showed 14.6 volts so that means the alternator is working. Yay!
If anyone is interested, to check your alternator output with a volt meter do this:
Start the car and turn every thing on. High beams, AC, radio, wipers, EVERYTHING, and have someone rev the engine up and hold it at around 1500 RPM. If the voltage reading at the battery is not less than 13.5 volts you should be good.
The old battery was most likely shorted out, or it would have kept running without the jumper box on it.
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