The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay does my battery recharge itself?

1950 3600 with a 235
6 volt system with 6 volt Optima battery
Here's the situation:
I get up in the morning and start my truck. Drive 10 miles to work. Park, go in to work, and work 8 hours. Go back to my truck, start it up and drive home. Park, go into house, etc...
Next day same thing. If that is all that I do I have no problems.
Here's where the problem occurs:
If I stop on the way to work or on the way home and turn off the engine, it acts like the battery is almost dead when I try to restart it (it turns over very very slowly). If I let it sit for an extended amount of time (hour or two), it will restart with no problem again. Why would it start just fine after a long period of sitting, but after a 5 minutes it acts like the battery is dead?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Sounds Like the starter is building high resistance, find someone who can do a starter draw test both Cold and Hot.

'50jrod3600,

bill1949 speaks the truth. It isn't the battery, it's more than likely the starter or cables and connections.

I think a typical starter current draw (6 volt) is around 250 amps. Anything way more than this and it tells you either the starter has a high internal resistance, or a little less likely, there is something in the mechanics making it REAL tough to turn the engine over.

Were any cables replaced recently with the new battery. The six volt systems requires cables the size of a old growth Redwood tree. The large cables need clean connections too.

My bet is on the starter. They are pretty easy to pop off and peek inside. Brushes and bushings are plentiful and you will feel like Mr. Goodwrench after you fix it up and it starts on the first crank.

There CAN be mechanical problems that cause this, but most of the time it is the starter/cable situation.

More folks will be along with more good info!

Stuart

I think Stuart pretty well covered it. If your ground cable goes to the frame make shure the ground strap from the frame to engine is heavy & connections are good. The engine tightens up when warm & the starter has more resistance. You might try setting the timing back a little.

The starter is new (rebuilt from Carquest). When I put the new battery in, I didn't replace the cables, I think they might be the originals. I'll take a look at them and the groud strap for bad connections.

read up:

http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi-bin//ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=002220#000001

My first thought was timing being off as well but after some reading it seems this is a pretty weird issue others have had.

When the original starter on my Chev van quit.I replaced it with a rebuilt.It acted just like yours.I got a replacement and the trouble was gone

Could your timin be a bit off ?
hot motors will be tough to turn over if the timin is out , cold they fire right up.
Have been there before.
Just a suggestion

I'll bet the guys who are suggesting cables are 'on to it'. Could be other things, but my 46 was pretty much the same. The cables were 12 volt and they are not good on a 6 volt system. Changed to those like "old growth Redwood trees" and never had another problem.
Cheers, George