I'm bring this back up but under one problem issue. I was told by the auto part stores they only check to see if it's charging or not but was told a place would preform in detail check. Well that was a waste of time because they claimed their equipment for doing this was down since last hurricane but yet all they do is both starters and alternators so basically they didn't want to give me their time just checking mine. So I'm back to square one again. I went and bought a Centech 11 function meter not 100% know how to use it. Read directions and did what they said and I couldn't get any reading's doing the negative off the post ohm reading. When I use the voltage side and did a reading. battery was running little low of 12.43 but when I run the motor it's charging 13.00 and above. Battery dropped from about 12.50 down to around 11.7ish from 1am to about 11.am this morning when I checked it. Left the leads on and watch it with the motor off and it was dropping very small increments. 12.50. 12.49 and so on so forth. This may be normal, not sure?
When I had the alternator off I clean everything real good and took it to the compressor and blew out the whole thing. I charged the battery up a few days ago and it held the charge fine and it's maybe a couple years old at the most. Its now 2pm and I will go back out and check the voltage around 8pm again to see how much loss it has taken. I did notice one improvement though. The gauge doesn't drop about a quarter inch when light were turn on like before. it barely moves now when I use them.It did drop though some. It use to be in the middle of normal range but its a little below that now but still in what would be normal.
From my research. I guess Ford was known to have put on weak what is considered a weak alternator on these years of truck. I'm not sure if that 100% true.

 

Disconnect the negative battery cable. Set your DMM to the 500mA range. Put the positive lead of your DMM on the negative post of the battery, and then the negative lead of your DMM to the clamp on your negative battery cable. If you have a drain, you should see a reading on the DMM. If you have a drain, one by one, go through your fuse panel, pull a fuse, check the DMM to see if the drain goes away or not. If the Drain is still there, with a fuse pulled, put the fuse back in, and move on to the next fuse. When you pull a fuse, and the Drain on the battery goes away, you've found the circuit that is causing the problem.

I don't know why shops can't do this simple test, other than it's time consuming, and nobody wants to pay for it.

If you have an overall reading less than 100mA of drain, with the key off, *I* consider that normal resting discharge, anything *over* 100mA usually indicates a drain somewhere, to me.

 

This is where I feel dumb in my question. I understand the checking part by pulling fuses. My problem is understanding this meter. I really never used one other then to check voltage. I just checked it after sitting about 6 hrs and it has dropped to 9.6 volts so the problem seems to be intermediating because after sitting most of the night is was way less then now. I double check to see if maybe something was left on and nope. Here is the picture of the meter I bought.





Thanks for putting up with me.

 

You want to be measuring Amps DC, not Volts. Voltage isn't directly your issue. Watching the Amperage will be what's useful for showing you how "big" or "small" the draw is. Basically, flip that dial 180 degrees from where it is, put it on the 200m setting, and I *think* you'll move the red lead to the mA socket. You'd have to check your manual for certain.

 

Or, you can just get a test light (12 volt light bulb in a socket), with extended wires to reach things and go from the negative pole of the battery (still hooked up), to the outside of your alternator and see if your bulb lites up. If it does, the unit is defective and will drain a battery pretty fast. A handy device to check for power where it should be as well as where it shouldn't!

 

I would leave the battery cables off overnight and check voltage in the morning. That rules out battery. If battery is strong after sitting disconnected, follow sfaulken.

 

I believe it has sat overnight before and held a good charge without cables due to the draining issue. I think it was in the range 12.6. At least now I now where to start with this meter now. I have to do a job interview around 4pm tomorrow so if I can't find fast. I will have to pull the cables off so it wont drain so I can get back home. All I know is I need to find and fix this pain. Thanks guys

OH just a quick update. Went out to remove battery to recharge it ( weather wont let me do it in truck) from around 6pm till now 1:30 am. The battery only dropped from 9.4 to 8.0. I did take a moment with the meter and did both a negative and positive test on the battery and negative on battery and red lead to outside of alternator and nothing showed. That's ruled out.

Its crazy if you seen my work in the cabinetry and vent hoods, you would say how doesn't he understand a simple meter?. lol.

 

What is ruled out? Your statement makes zero sense to me.

 

[QUOTE=rla2005;20004713]What is ruled out? Your statement makes zero sense to me.[/QUOTE

I misplaced my tester so I used the meter and ran one wire to the negative post and the other to the outside of the alternator and it read nothing. If I understood the one person correctly? If I understand what he means is current escaping through the body of alt.

I have two appointments today that are so close that I have to wait till the morning to do the fuse test without being in a rush. Thankful the appointments are with in walking distance ( 30 to 45 minutes) from my home if something happens.

 

[QUOTE=Sirriggs;20005046]Never heard of that one.

 

[QUOTE=rla2005;20005080]Me either but did it just in case. I have two appointments today that prevent me from having enough time to do the fuse test so hopefully I can get up early tomorrow and do them. I don't want to rush through it. I do have a question though. If the fuse pull doesn't show anything. Could the alternator be bleeding power loss while its sits? I'm not sure if this is a legit question but I need to solve this issue. I'm lucky to have a another battery I can take with me just in case.

 

The alternator connects to the battery via Fuse Link J at the battery side of the starter solenoid. You could remove every single fuse in the fuse box under the dash and the power distribution box under the hood but the alternator would still be connected to the battery. Going on the theory the alternator is bad it would still drain the battery.

 

Man this isn't going to a easy fix. Is there a way to isolate the alternator to see if is the culprit? From what I read, they do get hot while in use with the motor. I know I left the motor get cold to the touch but the alternator was still warm to the touch. I have called a couple of auto parts stores and they simply check for it its charging or not. Its charging above 13 volts while motor is running. Either way I have to figure this out. I can't afford a shop.

 

Disconnect the alternator at the fuse link/starter solenoid is the easiest method.

 

I went out and looked as far as I could on both wires taking the wire cover off and didn't locate it.Could it be close to the starter? I know dumb question but I can take some pictures later on today. Lucky I have my marine battery to take along just in case.I did charge my main battery and its been now about 4 hours and it hasn't dropped at all. I wished I know electrical better.