Joined
·
183 Posts
Well a few days ago 9 to be exact I joined the 2 dead batteries club.I will try and keep it short so forgive me if I leave anything out.Went out last Sunday and started my truck 3 times and only ran for 5 mins each time,last time glow plug light comes on all goes dead.Hooked up 6 amp charger for about for about 16 hrs and preceeded to test. Waiting 1 hour after taking charger off read voltage 12.3 both batteries
now this means about70% charged not good not even enough for a load test.Upon further checking of batteries found both sides of both batteries bulged which can be caused by freezing or high amp draw over a long time among other things.So now I can wait 2 days to get to dealer to have him say give you one or no warranty due to plow or whatever and get stuck with labor charge or a new delco
.So I really don't have time for this and just bought 2 batteries and if I find something else wrong than I will deal with the dealer.Now all I had to do was change the batteries sounds easy ah...snow blowing ,smoked in the head 3 times by hood by wind and build up of snow still have lumps
.Anyhow all said and done worked fine took to a buddy with a alternator shop and done some testing.
voltage: pre start glow plugs on 11.2
voltage
re start when glow plugs off 12.2
voltage:after initial start 12.3-12.4
voltage:after regulator cuts in 14.8
voltage:full load all acc. except plow 14.6
I always am looking at my guage and it is off a bit as far as accurate but is in the same place all the time so it seems to be working fine.I thought the voltage a little high but upon a little research found this to be normal for GM.The next thing I checked was for parasitic drain but could find nothing other than normal draw clock ,phone etc.Now my thought is my "plow" when you hit that baby the needle jumps guessing down to 11 voltages for a second or 2 so I think maybe sucking the amps down like that is not good and over time I am having less reserve capacity and with winter time, glow plugs, couple of quick starts and thats all she wrote. I left a few details out but you get the idea.Now I wonder if a person has a plow if they should check their batteries once in awhile before they leave you stranded.I don't even know if this was the problem and would like some feedback if anyone has any ideas.Oh one thing "the only thing" that I noticed was the last couple of times I started in the morning when it was cold the charge light stayed on for maybe 6 seconds instead of the normal 3 which makes me think the voltage was outside the perameters for the charging system until the regulator cut in.Low reserve?Edited by: nobull1



voltage: pre start glow plugs on 11.2
voltage
voltage:after initial start 12.3-12.4
voltage:after regulator cuts in 14.8
voltage:full load all acc. except plow 14.6
I always am looking at my guage and it is off a bit as far as accurate but is in the same place all the time so it seems to be working fine.I thought the voltage a little high but upon a little research found this to be normal for GM.The next thing I checked was for parasitic drain but could find nothing other than normal draw clock ,phone etc.Now my thought is my "plow" when you hit that baby the needle jumps guessing down to 11 voltages for a second or 2 so I think maybe sucking the amps down like that is not good and over time I am having less reserve capacity and with winter time, glow plugs, couple of quick starts and thats all she wrote. I left a few details out but you get the idea.Now I wonder if a person has a plow if they should check their batteries once in awhile before they leave you stranded.I don't even know if this was the problem and would like some feedback if anyone has any ideas.Oh one thing "the only thing" that I noticed was the last couple of times I started in the morning when it was cold the charge light stayed on for maybe 6 seconds instead of the normal 3 which makes me think the voltage was outside the perameters for the charging system until the regulator cut in.Low reserve?Edited by: nobull1