"Karl Townsend" wrote : (clip)I tried the standard headlight test. Turn lights on, they are full brightness. Hit key - lights completely die. Does this mean, "install new starter"? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Bright headlights indicate a good, well charged battery. If the lights go dim when you try to run the starter, that indicates that the starter circuit is drawing LOTS of current. That's not due to a dirty connection. Could be a short somewhere or a bad starter. The starter could be frozen, either with rust, or (less likely) with ice.
"Ken Davey" wrote: Get a small hand-held compass. Hold it close to any wire/circuit. Needle will deflect on the slightest current. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ That's a really NEAT idea. Since you will be working around a lot of steel, don't expect the compass to point the same way as you move around. It might be a good idea to have a second person to make and break the circuits, so you can look for pulsing in the compass.
"Karl Townsend" wrote in message news:k3VGh.9337$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
Hi Karl
You probably have your truck electric problem fixed by now. But, if not, try putting your jumper cables from the battery directly to the starter. The BIG click indicates to me that the solenoid in/on the starter is being actuated. But, when the starter tries to draw the high current it needs to crank the engine, too much voltage is being dropped across a faulty connection. Thats why the headlights dim when the starter solenoid is actuated (BIG click).
You can also find the bad connection with a voltmeter and a friend. I suspect the problem is at the battery terminal where the battery cable is attached to the battery terminal . If you put your voltmeter with one lead on the battery terminal and the other lead on the cable, the meter will read a voltage while someone tries to crank the engine if the voltmeter is across the faulty connection.
I cleaned the small shop out and pushed the truck in. Like putting two pounds of stuff in a one pound bag. The truck started immediately after I put it in the shop, not even slow to turn over or anything. Lights hardly dimmed while turning over.WTF?
I guess I'll replace both battery cables tommorrow and look for the slow battery drain. The whole truck has Minnesota cancer and I guess I'm due for stuff like this.
Where do I get one of these? My neighbor paid $400 to have this done to his drain line. It would pay to just have this on hand as I already own a large hot pressure washer.
"Karl Townsend" wrote: (clip) The truck started immediately after I put it in the shop, not even slow to turn over or anything. Lights hardly dimmed while turning over.WTF? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Not "WTF" at all. In one of my posts I said, " The starter could be frozen, either with rust, or (less likely) with ice." Evidently it was ice.
"Karl Townsend" wrote in message news:xx1Hh.9644$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
Here is one place
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it's the top one. My Brother in Law gets them from a place that supplies his carpet cleaning business but I can't reach him right now. I see this one is 19.00 Dave said he paid 10.00. Steve
As does the engine control computer, and in many cases the powertrain control module, and all the stuff controlled by CanBus on the newest stuff. When parking a vehicle for an extended period of time, simply disconnect the ground cable from the battery (or install a "safety shutoff" like they use on race cars .
On Mon, 05 Mar 2007 16:47:49 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Gunner quickly quoth:
Erm, that's called the Negative Battery Cable, Gunner. You've never heard of one? I saw quite a few (half a dozen?) fray at the block end connector when I was wrenching for a living, working on all sorts of older cars.
Oh well, the thread's already been hijacked, so....
After a few years of losing most of the apples to unknown critters before they were ripe to my taste, I decided to pick most of them and just store them under the porch on racks in the open air. They ripened with regard to sweetness on their own over time. The skin color didn't become any redder. They needed to be exposed to sunlight on the tree for that from what I gather.
I finally met someone who grew really big apples, so this year I finally have someone to show me how he prunes his trees. He says that thinning the cluster to just one apple is what makes them big though.
Hold the key on start for about 5 to 10 seconds and then look for a hot spot on the power wiring going to the starter, battery terminals, starter terminals and such. If the whole wire is evenly warm you have a bad starter or a siezed engine.
Start on the DC 10-Amp scale, and when that goes to zero reliably then you can switch to the DC Milliamps scale. Otherwise you'll go through a lot of meters or amp shunt fuses.
20 to 60 milliamps MAX is the spec, and that's the clock, the EFI Computer memory and the alarm if equipped. And that's after allowing the car to set for three minutes, when the computers decide you aren't restarting and go to full hibernation. This draw will let a vehicle sit for a week or two at a shot.
I just give up and put a trickle charger on the batteries. Either a solar cell on the dashboard or 120V powered "Battery Tender" will do.
Hi Karl, gee mate - your are doing it hard - 10 degrees and icy slush on the floor....no wonder you dont want to get into pulling out the starter motor.
One thing you did has me wondering, and it comes back to the battery question....
You say the charger meter indicated full charge - no, it doesn't, it tells you that there are 12 volts on the battery terminals. It doesnt tell you the actual state of each cell - 1 can be high resistance, and will act as a choke if you try and draw a LOT of current out of it, ie the starter motor. (I assume its a real truck, not some pissy little thing pretending to be a truck, so its got a big motor. And if its a diesel, makes it 10 times worse...)
Why do I think this - well, you say the headlights DIED when you hit the starter button. Go very dim, yes, but DIE - that, to me, indicates that the battery is crook. And it also shows that the starter motor is TRYING to draw heaps of current...
I ask again - can you try another battery, is the battery you just fitted a new one, or a spare thats been lying around the place for years - (and has been through the same winter that killed the original battery) see if you can borrow one from a neighbour, or even if the neighbour can bring his car round and you try and jump start the truck.
All the other advice about checking terminals, bolts, cables etc is very sound.
But, been round long enough to know that, sometimes, you get sidetracked into a scientific, complex explanation when its really simple...
And so saying all that, you are staring at the truck, and I am sitting in my workshop with the air conditioner running comp laing about the heat....(Just coming into our Autumn, but Gunners Martian SUV's emissions have stuffed up the seasons here - still hot...)
BTW - loved your apple testing explanation, got sucked in just as much as the schoolkids did....well done!. I guess American country people like setting up their city cousins just as much as ours do....
Animals havent been a problem, yet.....BUT, the crop has been picked - our slightly nutty 11 yo granddaughter made an executive decision and harvested the whole crop last night...and , they taste pretty good - not real sweet, but nice and crunchy and a little tart........
The fig is yet to bear, but its one I grew from a cutting so not expecting too much anyway. yet.
The miniature nectarine likewise - its due for the chop if it doesn't get its act together, it was a bargain priced miniature my wife bought off the back of a truck (literally) , at the markets... - the root stock is sending up shoots that are doing real well, the actual graft is just sitting there, doing bugger all. (Karl, you know these things, should I just dig it out, start again?...)
And threads usually get hijacked anyway - thats ok, long as it doesn't degenerate into political abuse......like having a good yarn with friends.....I think we have more in common re interests than differences, most practical people are into a myriad of things that others find interesting.
Saw a BBC program the other night - said the problem with the climate debate is that its been hijacked into Left and Right camps, so NOTHING will happen.....gee, I hope the sceptics are right.(are they feeling lucky, their betting the future on it.......)
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