new Alt. battery still going dead...

[shovermont]

ok so i just got a duralast alternator reman in the mail and i hook it all up today and jump it and figure the alternator will be good enough when no more then 3 minutes later it just dies. now the battery i have is close to two years but its an optima that i havnt had a chance to put in another car but always ran great when i needed it to. i know it isnt the alternator and i knew it WAS that before because the battery light was coming on and i know that means low voltage from the alternator. i know it had no problem charging before when i first had it running. and now no battery light and still junk. any ideas would be great. another point is right after i first got it running everything was fine and then i had no fuel pump. no reason either and i couldnt find anything about the fuel pump fuse either. i hooked up a manual override for the fuel pump to get that to work and ever since my battery doesnt like holding a charge. any help would be great.

 

[bigred56k]

new battery, bad ground

 

[hawkeye18]

well you kinda answered your own question. You have a path going straight to the fuel pump, and you're wondering why your battery won't hold a charge? If it's not switched, the fuel pump will always be running, and it consumes a fair amount of current.

Anyway, I would check all my grounds, and give the CCRM a good whack just for insurance. It's possible that one of your relays in the CCRM have gotten sticky with age.

 

[shovermont]

no i have a switched fuel pump. its just manual and that shouldnt be killing my battery. and whats a ccrm and where is it? is that the engine bay fuse panel?

 

[Acidic]

The CCRM is right above the radiator under a panel with a very large plug on one side... it's about 6x6 inches...

 

[shovermont]

ok this was my main battery ground to the motor, the wire was ripped back and its all like teal color from oxidation. i think that might be the problem.

so im gonna look into buying a new ground wire. blah another day and the car still isnt running haha

 

[hawkeye18]

Yeah, I'd tend to agree with you.

 

[shovermont]

ok so i replaced the ground, got it all hooked up and still nothing. i have noticed something with the battery however, i keep trying to jump it and i could jump it easily before but now nothing it wont even charge enough to turn it once. i throw my battery in from my camry and it fired right up no problem and ran perfect, but it did have a good charge in it, i have multimeters for it tommorw and im gonna check the voltage so hopefully i can pin it down. how does that sound? battery perhaps? thanks

 

[SHOZ123]

Jumping a battery will never recharge a battery. It will only pass enough charge (while the other car is running) or if the jumper cables are good enough wire size and connection wise to pass the starting current get the other motor started.

Most smaller ~6/12A chargers will take 12 hours to fully recharge a battery. A ~50A charger will do the job in 3-6 hours.

If the battery will not let the charge drop to ~1/2A (.500mV) and the battery temp is under 80F when fully recharged the battery is on it's last legs.

 

[shovermont]

hey damnit so i put the multimeters on my battery that i know is a good battery and its only reading 12 v. i shut the car off and it reads 13. should i check the ground to the starter? what else would make the car not hold charge. im determined to find it but im really leaning on you guys to help me. if you can tell me anything ill try it to figure it out. help help help

 

[SHOZ123]

You need to get better resolution for your numbers. 12v and 13v are not good enough. You need 12.xV and 13.xV.

A fully charged the battery that has sat for 2 hours or so should read about 2.1V per cell or ~12.6V.

If it is reading 13v with the engine off then the battery is no good, probably because of a high concentration of acid in the electrolyte caused by being low on water.

 

[shovermont]

yea well when the car is running a full charged battery should read 12.6. the multimeter i have is more for house electricty. ill try to find a better one. cleaned the starter cable up today and snapped the bolt that holds it in place cause it was old and ******. now i gotta drop the starter just to get that out. fun fun.

 

[shovermont]

how likely is it that the alternator i bought is bad, is there a way to test it that is safe without removing it from the car? im getting mad with this little problem. if anyone has any ideas it would be most appreciated

 

[mercman69]

battery

Do a load test on the battery! Take it autozone or advance or wherever and have it tested.Doing a voltage test means nothing.Most engine ECM's require at least 10 volts at cranking.Your fuel pump relay sounds like the problem.Replace it,their only like $ 20.Replace the battery for Gods sake!!

 

[Eric VerValin]

Something is loose man, I would bet. Voltage tests are ok, and the tests they do at AZ are kinda so so. Their load test is only good at a decent rpm. They really can't test an idle voltage. And yes, a new / reman alternator could be bad right out of the box. (Dead babies are born every day aren't they?


Did you check all the wires there at your starter? It's a 91 I'm guessing? How about the connections there on the firewall at the cylanoid? I can tell you I had issues kind of like what your having with my truck not wanting to turn over. I have to tighten the connections so tight before it will run, I snapped 3 of them trying to snug the nut down on the damn thing.