The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay DEAD -AGAIN

Nov. 2006 put new battery in my 64 'Burb. Has a 350.I only drive the truck once a week. Feb. 2007, try to start truck. Click, click, click. Jump battery, truck starts. Have new starter and alternator put in, but no new voltage regulator. 2 weeks go by and volt guage is pegged to right. Get new regulator put on. 2 weeks go by, try to start truck and click, click, click. Jump battery, truck starts. Take back to shop and they say there is no short. They think bad battery. In goes new battery. Once a week truck starts, no problem. This weekend (Sat.), start truck to drive 35 miles. Volt guage pegged to right for 30 miles, then moves a little to the discharge side. On the way back, guage still shows charging. But, only about 3/4 to the charge side. Sunday am, click, click, click. No battery. I have not tried to jump truck yet, because the garage is so tight with the burb in it that I have to push it out of garage in order to access the battery. HELP!

"think" bad battery?? don't they have the ability to check it?
how's the wiring? got a broken/bare wire someplace that's intermittantly shorting to ground?

Bill

'64 buffalo,

You mention 'voltmeter' several times in your post..do you actually mean ammeter. A voltmeter should hang around 14 volts and not move or jump much. The ammeter will jump around with any schizo activity in the system. The chances of getting two bad batteries is not good!

Chevrolet's are famous for 'clicky' solenoids, so this isn't too strange. A reluctant solenoid won't discharge a battery or cause a drain on the system.

It isn't unheard of for the extra kick of a jumper battery to cause a problematic solenoid to start the rig. It sounds like you have two separate problems.

Does your '64 burb really have a externally regulated alternator? If you replace the starter solenoid, you could focus on what is making the charging system malfunction. The regulator should never allow system voltage to climb above 14.8 TOPS. If the meter in the cab is truly a voltmeter and it is swinging around, the alternator is funky, or the voltage regulator is funky, or the wiring associated with these two devices is loose or broken.

A ammeter that hops around is a lot different than a voltmeter that has the jitters. Do some more digging and keep us posted.

Stuart

Stuart,

Thanks for the input. I guess it's obvious that I'm not a mechanic. The guage I was referring to is the ammeter, the guage inside the truck. On Sat., as I mentioned, for the first 30 miles, the needle was pegged completely to the right. Then for 3-5 miles, the needle was just to the left of the last mark on the rightside of the guage. The needle was not bouncing around. When I first left the house, I noticed the needle ( when I was pushing on the accelerator) was pegged to the right. But, when the truck was idling, at a stop sign, the needle was in the center of the guage. Push down on the accelerator and the needle goes all the way to the right. The voltage regulator is external and new. The starter, solenoid and alternator are also new. Less than 500 miles on them. Also, the starter, solenoid, alternator and battery went into the truck w/o replacing the voltage regulator. Then I noticed the ammeter needle was pegged to the right. The mechanic put a voltmeter on the battery and it showed 18 volts. So, the external voltage regulator was replaced. Truck was OK for awhile. Then one morning, click, click, click. Back to the shop. They put in the second new battery, and I had no problems for about 3-4 months. Then this weekend.

'64 buffalo,

This is a weird one. Your rig has a alternator, not a generator...right. If it has a alternator, the DA plug with the two wires on the little connector are sticking out of the back of the case..pointing toward the firewall, correct.

This problem sounds like a bad voltage regulator, but the ammeter activity makes it appear you have a generator instead of a alternator.

It's possible for the battery to discharge through the alternator, and through a generator too. There is a cutout relay in the voltage regulator that suppose to open when the rig is shutdown to prevent this.

The ammeter pegged to full charge for 30 miles must have been a sight to see. Activity like this could conceivably blow a battery up. Be sure to check the battery water as it might be all boiled away. Keep searching.

Stuart

sounds like you have a drain for sure.. you might dis connected the battery or take the battery out after your drive, at least for a couple of times,,(after it is charged up) this may save your battery till you can find the problem .. you can ruin a battery if you have a drain.... how well I know that, I went thru 2 on my 52 before I realized the drain, never could find it so I installed a dis-connect switch.

Buy a light probe, disconnect the negetive battery cable from the terminal and install the probe between the battery post and the battery ground cable. I can't remember which direction though. If you have a drain on the battery it should light up. Start pulling fuses until the light goes out. This should get you in the general area of the problem. If after pulling all the fuses and the light is still on start disconnecting, i.e alternator, regulator, etc.etc. until you get the light to go out. When you get the light to go out your found the drain.

Doesn't make any difference what way you connect it. result will be the samee

I forgot how much I love to watch ammeters!

Thanks everybody

Nice trick....I should use this trick to see what's killing a batt. in a semi I have....