Help, I've changed the alternator and battery and am now told that something is causing the rubber around the ground wire to melt. The vehicle will not stay running, the brand new battery will not stay charged. The brand new atlernator and battery have been checked, they are perfect. Can anyone help?

 

you may want to change the ground cable on the battery if its getting hot enough to melt the insulation its probally corroded. this will cause the resistance to be high and heat the cable up

 

Like the other Jerry said. Also, be sure to clean the battery terminal, and the connectors at both ends of the new cable, and the area around the block where the cable connects. This will remove any oxidation that could cause the resistance as well.

 

Check ALL of the ground wires/cables. I you loose one, the others try to make up for it. Greg

 

Thank you all for the response. Sorry guys, i'm new to working on vehicles. I've cleaned all of the connections to the battery and made sure they were tight. I completely charged the battery and drove the truck for a day and a half and it did the same. The battery is completely dead again. I found one ground wire under the truck, it looked clean. Another other suggestions?

 

OK, lets start with the basics. Did you put on a new ground cable? If not, you should, like Jerrya said. Take a meter that can read DC voltage and check the voltage across the battery terminals when the engine is running. You should get a little over 14 volts. If you are getting less than 13½ volts, the alternator is not charging sufficiently for some reason. If the alternator is charging OK and the battery is loosing power, then either the battery is bad, or you have a drain. You can simply remove the ground connection to the battery and leave it off for the same amount of time that it had been taking to drain the battery to check the battery out. If there is a drain on the system, the battery will still be good when you reconnect the ground cable. If you have a drain on the system (which is probably where this is headed) it becomes more complicated. You'll need to narrow down which circuit is causing the problem. If you have a good DC amp meter that can measure at least 20 amps (more is better, and make sure it is fuse protected), you can check the amp draw and pull fueses one at a time to see when the draw falls off. Depending on the size of the drain load, you may also be able to check it with a 12 volt bulb by seeing when the bulb gets dimmer as you pull the fuses.

Good luck...........

 

Following Jerry Simm's advice, I found that the alternator is not charging the battery at all. I've taken the alternator off and had it checked, the alternator passed. The battery was checked and it is completely drained again. The alternator and the battery were bought brand new and double checked when purchased to be sure that they were ok. I will try to find a good amp reader tonight when I get off work and try the other suggestions. Any suggestions on finding a good amp reader, can I buy one at a place like "Auto Zone"? Thank you kindly for all of your input I will post again Monday when I get more results.

 

Oh ya, one other problem with the truck not sure if it has anything to do with the truck not staying charged but for some reason the display on the radio does not work, the radio plays but you can't see what channel you are listening to. Can it just be the LCD light, how can I check it?

 

If your alternator is not charging, the problem may not be any kind of a drain. Don't bother with the amp meter yet. You need to find out why it is not charging. Odds are that there is a problem with the wiring if the alternator checked out OK. First thing to check is fuses and then fusable links. Check all of the fuses in your dash panel and in the power distribution box under the hood. You may find a blown fuse that supplies power to the field on the alternator. That is what allows it to charge. If it is possible to get to it, you should also try to check the voltage at the wire that goes to the battery right at the alternator terminal. This may require connecting a wire to it in some manner and then cranking the vehicle and checking the voltage using that wire (be very carefull about either you or the wires/leads getting caught up in the pulleys or belt).

Regarding the radio, it's probably not related. I've read on this board that the radio displays on 2000's have problems. Seem's like there was a post in the last few days that linked to a fix. Search and see.

Good Luck.

 

Thank you once again Jerry,

I will follow your suggestions and let you know what I find. p.s. I followed your previous suggestion this past weekend and did not find a drain when I used the amp meter, the light stayed bright on everything.

Thank you for the radio information.

 

Ummm, the light should not have been bright on any of them. You must put the light in series with the load. That is you disconnect the battery cable and put the light between the battery and the cable. Also, it needs to be a large enough light to draw a few amps to burn brightly.

 

Thank you once again Jerry, Don't give up on me yet, I will get this right sooner or later. I'll try again and see what I come up with. ;-)