Now that it has finally gotten cold here in South Carolina, my truck has a very, very hard time starting in the mornings. It seems like the batteries are dead! What gives? Should I put them on a charger? Will this help if I do?
Thanks,
Russ:confused:

Batteries are likely toast. What do you have installed for aftermarket electrical accessories?

batterys drain over night so its hard starting probably need new bat or youer not running it long enough to get a good charge

Have the batteries tested at your local auto parts store - most will test the batteries for free. If the batteries are good, buy a battery charger and charge them overnight. Most alternators are better maintainers than chargers. To get a good charge on the battery, you need a dedicated battery charger. If one or both of the batteries are damaged, then replace both batteries. It’s a good idea when buying batteries to buy the best battery you can afford. A better quality battery will last longer and provide better cold cranking amperage than a cheap battery.

Duramaxdad,
If this is for your 03 D/A then take it back to the dealer it's still under warranty.
The dealer can check it and if it's bad he should give you a new one or at least prorate it towards a new one.
GM has been having troubles with some of their batteries.
My wifes 03 trailblazer battery started leaking acid and I took it back and got a new one no charge. One of my batteries was also bad which made for hard starting, took it back and got a new one for free.
All depends on your dealer but you may luck out. Any way the battery is covered under a warranty like any other part, if it's bad they should replace it.

How cold is cold? A cold diesel doesn't crank over as easily as a semi warm one.

His profile shows he lives in South Carolina. So, he definately is not getting those -20*F or lower that we get here.

If you have the original ACLeakco batteries, they will eventuall leak, it's just a matter of time. And when they leak, things get ruined...

Tim

As far as aftermarket stuff connected up in my truck, I have a DVD player, overhead TV, CB, and roof clearance lights. The DVD, TV, and CB are never powered up unless the truck is running. So I don't think they are causing the battery drain. It seems like the batteries charge up fairly quickly after I get her started, my drive way is about 300 feet long, and the volt meter reads around 14 by the time I get to the end of the driveway.

Diesel Dragon, my D/A has over 50,000 miles on it, so I don't think the dealer will replace the batteries, it would be nice, but I don't think that is gonna happen.

The temps we have been having here lately , has been in the upper teens to about mid 30's in the morning. And that is when is starts the hardest. I have looked for leaks in the batteries and don't see any yet, but I will keep an eye out for that.

Looks like I might need to save up a few bucks and go get some Optimas. Which Optima do you guys recommend? I think they have 3 or 4 different kinds, any help will be great. I think, Iam gonna put it on the charger tonight, and see how it is in the AM.


Thanks again fo rthe replies!
Russ

Red top 34/78-800U. A lot of places (around here) carry only the wimpier 75/35 version which is not rated as high as the stock ACLeakco's. All red-tops are not the same. Fyi...

Tim

1. Get the yellow tops.

2. Try the dealer any way. Batteries are rated by month's 48,60,72 not miles.
So if your truck is out of the 3/36 warranty I would still try because the batteries should be rated longer. If you went in and bought a new A/C Delco battery today at a dealer it would be covered for 12 months no question's and prorated after that, up to the batteries expected life, say 60 month's. So why should A/C get away with only having to cover the battery for 36 month's just because it came with the truck as OE.
Seem's like a double standard they will cover it for 60 month's if you buy it off the shelf but will only cover up to 36 month's if GM supplies it, sounds illegal to me. Your OE tires come with a seperate Warranty then the 3/36 so why not the Battery
Like I said before it all depends on the dealer you have, some will work with you better than other's. It won't cost anything to try and like has been mentioned before GM has had a lot of batteries come back as bad so they may give you some slack.

Good Luck

Stoopid me, But i thought yellow tops were for RV service

Yellow tops are for deep cycle, which I happen to do. Everytime we start our trucks we let the glow plug's and heater cycle with out the motor running which bring's the battery down some and then we start and recharge it.
Plus I plow in the winter and with the factory alternator and a 200 amp powermaster the alternator's still can't keep up with the plow and the voltage goes down when it's in use, then back up when I'm not angling or raising the plow, so it cycles the batteries some more. Plus playing the radio with the bose amp's and the truck not running takes some juice to do too. Now I know it's not a deep cycle situation like on a trowling motor, or some other situation that might compleately drain the batteries before their recharged but there is some drain and recharge besides the normal gasser start the engine and go. So I decided on the yellow tops for my situation. Plus I looked on Optima's web site and it said that the yellow's last just as long as the red's and give extra protection from cycling. So I went with it.
To each his own.
My .02

That all makes sense to me...thanx

Go back to the dlr and get the batt(s) replaced under warranty. Set aside to supplement your 5er unit and order up some red tops.

I know that sometimes when I start my truck in the morning (and it is not cold here at all) that the alternator seems to have to work a little harder for a while before the meter reads that it is working. Noticed that the windows are slow to open and close when it is like this... Might need to take mine in as well to have this looked at.

I have noticed at start the gauge on my 03' will stay around 9 for a few minutes then goes up to the normal 13, at this point the lights (both dash and head) will brighten adn everything begins to act normally. What is going on here

My 2002 was dead the other day. I had noticed it was slow turning over for several days but I had not been driving it much or very long for about a week. Just from the carport to the barn and then getting the paper (2 miles) and then back to the carport. Not enough top get a good charge
Then it sat over the weekend and on Monday it was dead. Got the booster cables and hooked them up or tried anyway. Cable came off the battery with post and all!!
Had top get a new battery before I could even drive it! These were the original bateries.
I do always leave my phone and my 2 way radio on unless I know it will be parked more then 2 days.

Are both batteries active when the glow plugs are cycled, or do they draw off of 1 batt only?

Both. They are wiring in parallel so they act as one.

GMC2500HD and Ogre,

The reason the voltmeter stays at 9 volts which is normal, and your windows are slow right after start up, which is normal, is the batteries are partially drained from running the glow plugs and intake air heater. Both of these item's are a big amp draw on the batteries.
The alternator is working at start up but needs time to recharge the batteries up to 14 volts again, the longer the glow plug cycle the longer it takes to get back to 14 volts again. Most truck's take up to 30 seconds to come up to proper voltage. If truck is already warm and glow plugs dont even come on then it's right up to 14 volts. And that's why there's 2 batteries because of the glow plug cycle plus the high compression engine and add some cold winter temps and it takes a lot of juice to get the engine fired up.

Over the road truck's with big 14.7 litre motors usually have 4 batteries to start them up and they don't even have glow plugs or air heaters.


Dutch,
Take your battery back to dealer and insist they give you a new one, like I said before GM has been having problem's with leaky batt and has been pretty good about replacing, but it depends on your dealer too.

Duraty's,
Both batteries are always working in the Duramax's, for start and everything else.

Looks like I will be stopping by my stealer tomorrow morning! Thanks again.

Russ

The larger hwy tractors are also 24volt and not 12.

I have also been having issues starting, on some occasions. It is random so I can't pin it down to one thing. I'm is socal so its not really cold. I will be purchasing new batteries this weekend, just to be safe.

One thing I have noticed though. If I rev the engine to 2000 for about 15 seconds before I shutdown at night, when I start in the morning I have no issues. The volt meter goes directly to 14 and there is no dim lights or slow windows. Not sure it that extra engine run time at higher rpms then idle helps charge the batteries but it seems to help. Also I have become accustom to actually powering off the radio. It seemed to start better. I know that sounds crazy.

I hate to disagree with some of the experts here but my alternator is on a 30 second time delay before it kicks in. It starts timing when I turn the key to the start position. My voltage is 12 during this time. Later! Frank

Ok I had to double check about this time delay your talking about Frank and mine dosen't do it.
I checked this morning when engine was cold but it was plugged in for a couple of hours first. Temp was around 10 deg f this morning, turned key "ON" waited for glow plug's to cycle, about 6 seconds for light to turn off, then I cranked and truck fired right up, voltage went to about 11.5 for 4 seconds, then it went up to 14.5 volts.
Total time from key "ON" to normal voltage was about 15 seconds at the most.

When truck was already warmed up, I would turn key "ON", no glow plug light to wait for, turned to start, truck fired up and volt meter went up to 14.5 volt's right away, no delay at all.

So is this normal or are other people seeing a time delay of 30 second's till their alternator kick's in?

Not doubting what other people say their truck's are doing but I would like to know what is normal for these truck's.

Can any one else make a note of what their's does and post it please?

Thx
DD

The larger hwy tractors are also 24volt and not 12.
All of ours are 12 volt, military uses odd voltage.

Can anyone tell me why every time I have a bad battery,it is always the passenger side battery. When tested the drivers side battery is always good. This has ocuured 4 times in two different trucks. Just had to replace it again this week. Lasts anywhere from 12 to 18 months then replace again.

hd90rider, just a theory.

The Battery Right, is wired straight to the starter. The Battery Left is wired to the Junction Block Underhood, and the Junction Block Underhood then supplies the starter. Maybe you have a loose or bad electrical connection from Battery Left.
The Battery Right may be the path of least resistance, and may tend to supply more current than the Battery Left.
Does anyone rotate their batteries???


As far as the low voltage at start-up, the alternator charging rate is controlled by the ECM. I've read here that there is a delay on startup, before the alternator is allowed to charge the system. I've looked for this in Helms, but never found any ECM Program details.

I bought Optima "Red Tops" about 3 weeks ago. Paid $118 each! Howard

modified : All connections are tight, so that isnt the prob.. O well, just thought it strange, that in both trucks the bad battery is always on the pass., side. Had the mech. test both yesterday, left side was strong with load applied, right side was way down, machine said to replace. Thanks for the reply

Not to sound like a smart ass but.
Cold starts are hard on lead acid batterys becuase the specific gravity of the water in the battery is low when the battery is cold, so if you get a battery warmer or blanket and keep the batterys warm then cold starts will not be as hard on your battery. Specific gravity of a warm battery is (i think 1.28) as it gets colder it drops and the chemical reaction in the battery does not react completly. Try it test a cold batterys capicity and a warm batterys one.

One thing to remember when load testing paralleled batteries is to isolate them from each other. If you put a meter on the batteries after the heaters cycle and before starting you will fine they are 12 to 12.5 volts. Nine volts will not start anything but a 67 VW Beetle. Later! Frank