benton
Country boy
when i get home from work im going to test the system with the multimeter i found one here at work kicking around. thanks for all the help i suck at working with electrical stuff in trucks 
SOMTHINGS WRONG!!!!
- Thread starter benton
- Start date
There are schematics in my Moosestang Album
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/202816966sObdCc
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/202816966sObdCc
benton
Country boy
welp i tested the batteries with the multimeter and i got between 12 and 13 on the passenger side battery and 14 and 15 on the driver side battery.
benton
Country boy
that was with the truck running! the passenger battery with the truck off is 13.2 and the driver side is 13.1 with the truck off.
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shaneps86
Registered User
My truck is doing the same thing exactly..did you get this figured out? I replaced the alternator with a used one I had laying around and it started doing this surging thing, I replaced the regulator and it did nothing. On acceleration voltage surges to almost 16 I really don't want an exploding battery under the hood. Thanks in advance!
benton
Country boy
yea 4 alternators and 2 brandy new battrees later! there was a burnt wire and corrosion. then i had the alternator tested and it was putting out low amps and i had a dead cell in one battery so i bought 2 brand new ones and went to autozone and got a new alt and it didnt work then got another and that one didnt work and the last to fell apart before i left the store so i got a 20 gift card and my money back and had to order one from advance auto and its been workin great till i blew my trans so i havent driven it but it still fires right up and charges when i got out and start it!
shaneps86
Registered User
Where was the burnt wire and corrosion problem? I've checked all of my fusible links and they seem fine, so any suggestions of where to look would rock! I'll take the alt into advance tomorrow to get it checked out, maybe this one is bad now too... thanks!
benton
Country boy
the corrosion was at the regulator and the burnt wires were at the the plug for the alternator
papastruck
Full Access Member
A hearty "Amen" from a reformed parts thrower here. For anyone as intimidated about auto electricals as I, this book by Tony Candela has already more than paid for its presence under this roof.
papastruck
Full Access Member
I love those fixes and wish I had more of them. I spent an hour cleaning every point on the starting circuit on my '73, and booooy what a difference. It's usually the confluence of several things that finally gets you with these.
mariner45
Full Access Member
A heads up to anyone that is still running the original alternator and wiring plug on their diesel.
A couple of years ago I pulled into a gas station to fill up with diesel and could smell burning when I got out of the cab. I opened the hood and low and behold, my alternator was alight and on fire - right next to the gas pumps
I used the fire extinguishers at the gas station - used two dry powder ones to get the fire out and finished off with a bucket of water. Everything under the hood got covered in yellow dust from the extinguishers - duh !
The yellow stearate powder is a ****** to get off the engine after it has been soaked with water and left to dry.
When I looked, the old plug was loose and caused the alternator ro crank out excessive amps to charge my batteries and cause the alternature to catch alight. This happened in the middle of January with blowing snow and -25C temperatures (-15F). I would have been in deep do-do had this happened on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere.
Anyway, the point of my post is to check the wiring and plug to the alternature - it might just save you a lot of grief. If your plug is original - replace it with a new one from Napa - it is well worth the cost.
I ended up getting the truck towed back home for free with the BCAA or the equivalent of AAA.
Cheers
mariner
A couple of years ago I pulled into a gas station to fill up with diesel and could smell burning when I got out of the cab. I opened the hood and low and behold, my alternator was alight and on fire - right next to the gas pumps
I used the fire extinguishers at the gas station - used two dry powder ones to get the fire out and finished off with a bucket of water. Everything under the hood got covered in yellow dust from the extinguishers - duh !
The yellow stearate powder is a ****** to get off the engine after it has been soaked with water and left to dry.When I looked, the old plug was loose and caused the alternator ro crank out excessive amps to charge my batteries and cause the alternature to catch alight. This happened in the middle of January with blowing snow and -25C temperatures (-15F). I would have been in deep do-do had this happened on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere.
Anyway, the point of my post is to check the wiring and plug to the alternature - it might just save you a lot of grief. If your plug is original - replace it with a new one from Napa - it is well worth the cost.
I ended up getting the truck towed back home for free with the BCAA or the equivalent of AAA.
Cheers
mariner
Next time you do this test, put your volt meter between the positive of one battery and the POSITIVE of the other battery. Yea, I know your probably thinking that doesn't make any sense. BUT, if you have a bad cable or cable connection between the two, you will see a voltage difference. The reading SHOULD be zero. If it's not, you've got continuity issues. Do the same test for the negative posts.
