Went for a ride today, about 60 miles, truck was running well. We stopped for breakfast and when we came out the truck took a little longer to start than usual, just a few seconds. Going down the road I noticed the battery gauge was showing high charging rate, after a few miles it went back to almost normal.
It is 6 volt positive ground, battery is a Optima and is 54 months old.
Any thoughts?


Ed
near Philadelphia

 

I would clean my battery posts and connections to the starter/grounds.

 

Thanks, I will do that tomorrow morning and let you know how that works


Ed

 

I'm not sure if this is what your talking about or not, but my 52 f1 has positive ground 6 volt, and when its been running for a while and the starter is hot, it turns over slowly...is this what you mean?

 

The problem is the stock battery gauge was showing all the way to the right, it has not done that in the 67 years I have been riding in it, it did stop and settled just above the midrange as it always has

 

Usually the voltage regulator is the culprit for overcharging. It can smoke your battery too. I'd clean up the terminals like mentioned above, and put an actual voltmeter on it. If it is intermittent wire the meter to the battery and tape it to the windshield. See if it is actually over charging at times.

 

Possibly the battery was low on charge, causing the slow start and then the need for higher than normal charging. Battery is almost 5 years old, it could be near end of life and unless you have an electrical drain problem I would be keeping an eye on the battery voltage before it leaves you stranded.

 

Fordf348

You need to get a multimeter (DMM)/voltmeter on the batter as soon as you can. You need to make sure that you have a full charge on the battery. Turn the headlights on for 1 minute and then turn them off. Take another voltage reading. This will help determine if the cells are holding a surface charge (battery thinks its full but as soon as you apply a load it drains) or it will help show a good/bad battery depending on voltage after the test. You can also take the battery to any Autozone and have them load test it. Make sure it is fully charged first.

If there is and accessories left on that could have caused the slow crank/discharged battery demanding the charging system to work harder. It will show a high/long charge due to weak (or low current rated) alt/gen. High resistance on cable ends and grounds can mimic this as well. Clean all cable ends with a wire brush. The lead will go from dull grey to shiny silver. That is the lead oxidation that you are seeing get cleaned up. If you have any green furry cables/connectors/terminals then you need to wire brush them and clean with baking soda and water. This neutralizes the acids in the corrosion. Check all grounds (frame/firewall/engine block) clean all oil and rust (clean any paint from ground points as well)

 

I don't know, it doesn't sound all that unusual to me. If it normally fires right off, there's not much recharge needed. If you had to crank longer that one time, it may well have needed to charge at a high rate for a while. 30 amps isn't that much, really.

 

I checked the truck this morning and put my multi meter on it(not a real good one)
it shows about 7 volts before start up and goes to about 9 volts when reving the motor.
So it appears to have cured itself, I need to take it for a ride and see if the problem persists when hot, I did order a new Optima battery at Amazon for $120, I will put that in when I get it. I also am going to order a new voltage regulator in case I need that, the one in there is about 15 years old.


Thanks for the help
Ed

 

PS....forgot to mention that I cleaned up all the connections before I started it

 

Just that simple cleaning probably cured any issues up. You would be suprised at how oxidation can effect the efficiency of the charging/starting systems.

I would swap out the regulator and keep the one you have as a spare.

 

I have the same issue.

When wires heat up, the resistance increases. That will be amplified by any weak spots in the charging/starting system. My next step is to replace the battery and ground cables(got them for free). I've replaced the starter which made a good difference, but still have a hard time starting hot. It seems just like a discharged battery.

Solid and clean connections,
battery/ground wires in good shape,
and starting components in good shape and I'd think you'd be rid of any problems.

I'm curious though. Can a starter solenoid cause hard starts? I'm wondering if the contacts inside can be corroded enough to provide continuity, but too much resistance.

 

Ed,
Glad your back on the road in that good looking truck!
Dennis

 

On the issue of hard starting, last year I could not get mine to start unless I used a 12 volt battery. It was driving me nuts and I finally took it to my regular mechanic, he felt it was the ignition switch, after I replaced that the starting was better than it had been in years