wondering whats going on. it can only be my battery or alternator right? ok heres the deal. i have noticed lately that my heater works a hell of a lot better when i hit the gas. my lights shine brighter. pretty much i have more power running through the system when i have the engine going at higher rpms. im thinking that its my battery. what do you guys think?
Drive to a sears & have them test the battery & charging system, if bad get a die hard from them. They will test forever if you have one of their batteries,& the die hards are great! They have Optima also,got a yellow top from them,is a deep cycle/starting type!
If you have a multi-meter you can check it yourself. Check the voltage with the engine off. Even a bad battery should (unless it is dead) show 12+ volts. Now have someone crank the engine over and watch the meter. The voltage shouldn't go below 10 or so. Then once the engine starts, you should have 14.1-14.6 volts. If you are running low at idle (in the 12's or 13's), rev the engine, You may see the voltage climb back up a bit which will make everything work better (Heater Fan). If this is the case, you probably need an alternator. If the battery voltage is low to begin with, have it tested at a local parts store (Free). Or you can just go to the parts house to begin with and have them test the whole system. I also run a Yellow Top.
perfect & . . . Excellent advice, Ide test the battery first than the alternator ( which can also be done at a parts store ), most likely that is the cause of your troubles, most of the time the brushes get so worn down that you have to increase RPM to help it charge the battery more with more charge, if thats the case the alternator is on its last leg, you could also have the alternator rebuilt or replace the brushes yourself if you have the know how. I myself have the Optima yellow top and will never use anything else if I don't have to ! Alternators can be found for cheap or you can simply upgrade to a higher output & wiring for a little bit more. L o w N l o u d
lownloud... yeah i can change out the brushes. i rebuilt a couple of them in the last couple months. im in school to be an a&p mechanic. we're going over this stuff right now. im just gettin your thoughts on the problem. i figured it would be the alternator. im going later this week up to autozone and get the diagnosis. also my battery is from 2000 i think. i had to replace it when i drove it once then. when i do this im going to move the move the battery back to the bed. i also going to install a 140 amp alt at the same time. do an electrical overhaul. i eventually want to put air ride on so i want the extra power.
kewl . . . Sounds like you have it handled and have gave it lots of thought, goodluck with the work & schooling . . . L o w N l o u d
One thing you want to check is your ground cables. Check them all especially from the batt. to the core support, this wire builds up alot of resistence when it gets old and is also known to get coroided from the inside out. I changed all of mine up to 4-guage cable and have had no problems plus installed a 170 amp alt.
yeah, when i update the battery and alternator and going to run all new cables. its going to be a couple of weeks before i can get to it though. i really need tires so i can finally get my wheels on.
I just got done with my alternator upgrade (I'll post some pics soon) and my truck does the same thing but only when my compresors are on. When the comps are on, the lights get brighter when I rev at higher rpms.
