What Happened Yesterday & Today

[icanfixall]

Yesterday I go to strat the rig.. Its been "resting" for 10 days.. No big deal cause it fires up before the crank goes one full turn.... Nope... Not yesterday. Sounds like the batteries or the starter. Cranks off quickly then slows down right away. I have a look see at the terminals... They look great. Still have the protective mess on them. So I tap each terminal with a small ball peen hammer thinking maybe there is some hidden buildup between the terminals and the clamps.... Nope. I cycle the plugs and try cranking. Its very slow but it fires up. So I drive it almost 100 miles all the time watching the battery gauge stays in the middle. Even with the ac on.. No big charge so I'm thinking its the starter. I get home and test fire the rig. It fire right up. Just before this I tested all the battery cells. Funny but the cel at the positive terminal is low on both of them... So I clean all the terminals. Found very little grey corrosion on all but one negative terminal. Clean all of them and put it to bed. So on to today. Cranks off fast but very qiuck fire off... Then it dies... WTH... Check power to the injection pump... Good click sound. Crack open some injector lines. No air escaping or fuel. Crank the engine and see fuel right away... Test flow at the schrader valve... Nothing but fuel. Crack three lines and crank about 3 seconds till fuel is seen. Batteries are on charge till later.... Try severl hours later but no fire. Plugs cycled andare off but I see smoke from the tailpipe. Enough to reach the front end where I standing and jumping the solienod to start it. Let the batteries charge up another 2 hours. Standing on the bumper and jumping the solenoid holding the injection pump wide open it fire right off within 3 turns of the crank. Now the volt gauge is showing more charge than before. I let it run till the fast idle drops down with the charger still on. Then take it for a test run around town... Seems to run easier for some unknown reason. Revs come up faster. Just sounds differant.... I tightened up both the top and bottom of the fuel filter. I'm so getting rid of that mess of oppertunitys for leaks. I have been attempting to fab up a 99 psd fuel filter setup. Looks like it will work fine. One thing I did find completely wrong. That was the water in fuel wire was not connected and the filter plugage wire was connected to the wif on the bottom....

 

[bghnkinf350]

Have you checked the voltage with the charger on before? Might be time to take out the DVOM and check output of the alternator and the regulator.....also how are the grounds at the block and the solenoid?

 

[built4tq1]

Hmmm....I had a similar problem with an 85 f250 i had once..Truck would run then shut itself off..So i did everything as you mentioned...Checked the solenoid at the pump...checked fuel pressure,fuel filter,air intrusion the works.....Come to find out after many of grey hairs, it was the ignition switch down on the column.. It was coming apart and causing erratic connections...As far as the slow crank...as far as the slow cranking, I would agree with you that the starter may indeed be the culprit??...Also, The voltage may read fine in your batteries..however they may lack the amperage to supply a start...I've seen this happen a few times....

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Did you check specific gravity in each cell with a hydrometer ??

 

[built4tq1]

I often pondered this theory as well, in the case of electronic solenoids....Is it at all possible that amperage and or dirty voltage could cause a unstable open/closed circuit within the solenoid? Thus creating a "floating effect" within the Plunger/coil?..If this were indeed the case...It could make sense to the affect of your engine running more responsive now that the charge and amperage has been revitalized within your battery's.. causing full open/closed operations within the solenoid....Just a theory however... I'm by no means an electrical genius...But I am in fact willing to learn from all that teach..

 

[riotwarrior]

Wow, that's very unusual from what I understand yer truck to run, ya specific gravity of battery cells is the most accurate way to judge condition, maybe your getting some build up on the plates causing some internal resistance? Just a thought....

 

[icanfixall]

The battery cells were tested with the hydrometer. Just the cells at the positive terminals showed low by the specific gravity test. And that was in the middle of the reading saying..."Need Charge". All the other cells were showing in the green on the hydrometer specific gravity test. I really don't look for the number readings but just look to see if its in the green or not. I have the charger on the batteries now and will watch till its dark here. Then put it on the 2 amp charge overnite... The starter is cranking over much faster now but.... It fire off so fast now... Not even a full turn of the crank. I suppose I could remove the power to the injection pump and test crank it...

 

[Brimmstone]

Check the connections at the solenoid also. My flatbed pulled something like this and it turned out to have some corrosion on the terminals mounted on the solenoid.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Unless you have had the foresight to replace them with circuit-breakers, don't forget a fuse-link as a possible cause of weak electrical contact.

There is no fuse-link between the batteries and starter; but, there are in the other functions.


Also, specific gravity should be compared by the numbers.

I am a little rusty on the specifics, but a variance of more than half-a-point or so between cells is cause for concern.

High or low overall average shows state of charge.

Variance in the numbers from cell to cell shows when there are problems within a specific cell.

 

[BigRigTech]

I'd be taking a close look at the alternator for signs of heat or working too hard......We had an ISM Cummins at work this week that would barely roll over...By the time I was asked to have a look they had replaced the starter, cables and batteries....same deathly slow cranking.....I started to suspect something was holding the engine from rolling over, we checked the front mount hydraulic pump....Non issue, I tried it again and BANG!....The 10 rib serp belt snapped clean off....In the 3 weeks the truck was in the shop for major repairs the alternator had siezed solid to the point it was stopping the engine from rolling over....Now that's a quality fan belt to take that torque for quite a few start attempts.......I've seen them slip, burn and shread on a seized alternator but never have I seen one stop the engine from rotating.

 

[david85]

My guess goes for the battery terminals. It really doesn't take much corrosion to cause problems.

 

[rhkcommander]

what kind and how old of batteries? Same for alternator. sorry if its in your sig but im too tired to sift through that paragraph right now...

on my truck the batteries had decent standing voltage but would puke under load. The reason was because the alternator didn't put out enough juice anymore. When the alternator doesn't work hard it frees up some ponies like you described. Cranking fast then slowing down would also relate to batteries in a similar description.

Could also have a parasitic draw pulling off the batts when she sits. But my case was very similar to yours. I replaced both batteries with group 31 and put in a 130amp 3g alternator and haven't had power problems ever since

 

[icanfixall]

I have the serpentine belt setup and the alternater is a 200 amp with an internal regulater. I may just remove it on Monday and have my mom & pop shop run a test on it just to rule out problems. The batteries are3 year old interstate and appear to be questionable by the specific gravity tests done... I will be looking at them again later if problems continue...I have found no parasidic draw as of this time but will continue looking.

 

[built4tq1]

Any new progress with the chess game Gary?

 

[icanfixall]

Yes... I left my charger on overnite at 5 amps... One battery was hot and the other was cold. Started hard with slow cranking. After it ran I shut it down and it instantly jumped to life on restart. No long cranking or air anywhere. Funny thing is nothing happened when I turned the key to start after the wts lite went out. Cycled the plugs again and turned the key harder and it clicked and the starter began to slowly turn... Maybe ingition switch or alternater or burned up batteries... Sure is something going on and I don't think it just one thing... I'm ruleing out what it isn't as time allows. I will find whats going on and hopefully not be throwing parts at it. I really don't want to install new batteries or an ignition switch... I hate working under the dash. Maybe it just needs an adjustment because it got loose and slipped. If the batteries are shot I will be installing some 31 batteires and modifying the trays lower so the top post wont touch the hood... Or see if the hood can be modified to handle the taller group 31 top post battery..... Way too many things todo these days..