Charge problem?
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Junior User
Joined: Nov 2003
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From: IL
Charge problem?
This is a strange one but maybe someone's seen it before.
I have a 99 E150 with the 4.6 V8, auto. trans., just under 50K on it. I only use it for occasional machine deliveries & fishing ventures. Last week the battery light came on along with the seat belt / air bag light, & the guage went up to 18V. Only when applying the barkes did the lights go out & the guage returned to normal, as soon as I let off it went right back to the abnormal condition. After I got it home it sat for 4 days, went to use it yesterday & the battery was completely dead. I jumped it & it started right up, drove it like 50 miles before the problem came back. When I got it home I took the ground off the battery & it arced like something is still draining it & I noticed a thin layer of acid on top of the battery.
A friend told me it's probably the regulator in the alternator but I hate to just start throwing parts at it.
Thanks in advance for any ideas.
I have a 99 E150 with the 4.6 V8, auto. trans., just under 50K on it. I only use it for occasional machine deliveries & fishing ventures. Last week the battery light came on along with the seat belt / air bag light, & the guage went up to 18V. Only when applying the barkes did the lights go out & the guage returned to normal, as soon as I let off it went right back to the abnormal condition. After I got it home it sat for 4 days, went to use it yesterday & the battery was completely dead. I jumped it & it started right up, drove it like 50 miles before the problem came back. When I got it home I took the ground off the battery & it arced like something is still draining it & I noticed a thin layer of acid on top of the battery.
A friend told me it's probably the regulator in the alternator but I hate to just start throwing parts at it.
Thanks in advance for any ideas.
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A friend told me it's probably the regulator in the alternator but I hate to just start throwing parts at it.
From the reading the dash guage is giving you, and the acid condition on top of the battery, it sounds like the output of the alternator is too high. This will boil the water out of the battery.
There is a chance that the alternator is good, and it's just a loose connection or a mouse/squirrel has chewed a wire in two. There should be a large wire coming off the alternator, and then some smaller ones. These smaller ones are what the alternator uses as feedback to monitor the system voltage. If the wire is loose or corroded, it gets back bad info and can tell the alternator to output more than it needs.
I think some of the later trucks also have a fuse box under the hood. I don't know if your van does or not, but I remember some of them had a little fuse for the regulator circuit. You may want to check all the fuses to see if they are good.
Thread Starter
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Junior User
Joined: Nov 2003
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From: IL
That was the problem alright, thanks for the help Dave.
What threw me off was the problem going away when I hit the brakes but I guess with all the computerized stuff anything's possible these days.
Thanks again.
What threw me off was the problem going away when I hit the brakes but I guess with all the computerized stuff anything's possible these days.
Thanks again.
Tuned
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 345
Likes: 4
From: Southern IL
Not so bad if you can picture this. Under normal conditions your gauge reads around lets say 14v. If the regulator went out then the alt would put out 18v and the drop to normal is due to the voltage drop/used across the brake lights.
Brakes use more power than most people think especially when you have electric brake controllers and more lights in the back. My flatbed has four big round lights instead of the factorys smaller two lights.
Brakes use more power than most people think especially when you have electric brake controllers and more lights in the back. My flatbed has four big round lights instead of the factorys smaller two lights.
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Junior User
Joined: Nov 2003
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From: IL
Now ya had to go & get me thinkin again, just when I was about to chalk it up to computerized stuff. That theory did cross my mind but the headlights, wipers & A/C all on at the same time had no effect. There's probably more electricity being used somewhere in the ABS system as well. Also the airbag light was coming on along with the battery light.
Drove it all day yesterday & it's just fine now.
Drove it all day yesterday & it's just fine now.
Tuned
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 345
Likes: 4
From: Southern IL
Sometimes faults have to be cleared from the computer. If you have no other means to do so, sometimes you can disconnect the battery for a while, like overnight, and that will remove any faults from the memory.
