Ok, I've posted bits and peices of my problem on here already, but heres the whole story.
1st, i left my lights on and the battery drained. Me and a friend went to jump it and it smoked and sparked like crazy, and didn;t charge the battery at all. I took the battery in to get a new one. Also, noticed a wire coming out of the starter solenoid got melted in 2, I fixed that.
2nd. i install the new battery and it ran fine for a while, then I was driving it and it totally died on me, voltage read 0, or very close to it. Me and biggieou jumped it and it ran for a little while.
3rd. I took the second battery to have it charged all the way up, and I was told that there was a dead cell. they told me some of the batteries they've been getting have had this problem. I got a new battery and installed that. It ran fine at first. I drove it back to where I park it off campus, and everything was good. I drove it back to my dorm and it was still running fine. Just 3-4 hours later, it was completely dead, 0 volts.
4th. I was told to check for shorts and such. I checked wires and everything seems to be in order. I did realize that the wire that melted, I didn't put it back together real well. I did fix that, by cutting it and hooking it back up to the solenoid.

So, my question is, can anyone tell me what could be the problem? Could my truck possibly be shorting out the battery internally, or screwing it up? Also, could I have fried the solenoid? And would that cause it to short/ drain the battery with it not running? I shorted the solenoid to try and start it, and I got a spark, but the battery is still dead so I don't know if the starter would run or not. Any other ideas as to what could be wrong with it? I'm gettin pretty frustrated and confused with it, I need to get it off campus so I don't get a ticket every time it dies on me. and lucky for me, this is my 666th post....

 

What wire on your solonoid melted?

 

It's a little wire, that goes to the alternator. I also just went out to replace the solenoid, and looked at a wire that hooks together. One end goes also the the alternator, same spot as the one i fried, and the other end goes into a whole mess of other wires that seems to be headed towards either the computer, or possibly the fusebox. But this connection, it looks almost like a round fuse holder, but theres no fuse, it directly connects on the inside, and it looks like it could also be shot.

 

When you jumped it and it sparked and smoked did you reverse the cables on one
of the vehicles? If you, did no doubt one of the diodes in the alternator is blown
out causing the battery to drain.

 

That's what I'm thinking. Bad polarity.

 

.....crap, That's a good possibility that's what we may have done. Does the entire alternator need to be changed or can I just get a diode?

 

Bad news, bad news, you'll have to replace the whole unit. When you do, don't just go by the dash gauge. Test the alternator output with a volt meter. Output at the battery should be at least 13.5v and no more than 14.8v with the engine at 2,000 rpm.

 

Just what a poor college kid wants to hear. I think I'll goto Rockauto.com

 

Hey thanks for the replies guys.Changed out the solenoid last night in the dark. Went to CarQuest today and ordered an alternator, figures they don't have the right one. It'll be in 8:30 am tomm. Hope this solves my problems. Thanks again

 

The exact same thing happened to me. A new alternator will do the trick.

 

You can check for ANY draw by putting a test light between the negative battery post and the removed negative terminal. Any light is a draw.
You can check for an alternator draw (diode) by putting the test light between the positive battery post and the removed wire that goes to the alternator.