It has been 30 deg. or less in the morning for the last couple of days. I finally got the glow plugs working maybe 3 weeks ago. Last Friday, I cranked my truck over 4 times without it starting. I no longer had enough juice to run the glow plugs and crank the motor. Since Friday, the only way I can get it started in the morning is if I have the block heater plugged in. After getting started in the morning, I don't have problems the rest of the day. I had been thinking I had a air leak in the fuel system, but I've noticed it only takes maybe 2 seconds of cranking to start seeing white smoke at starting. I tested my batteries about 1 1/2 weeks ago with a load tester, and it said they were good, although at the lower end of the good scale. Cables were off while testing. I have noticed pulsating head lights, and slow wipers when the truck is first started. Also, my voltage gauge in the dash shows no charging at all for the first couple of minutes after starting, and never charges above maybe 14v. Does this sound like it could be a battery problem, or an alternator problem? Autozone has 100 amp alternators for $77, and it will cost that much for just 1 battery. Can you get the alternator tested somewhere without having to remove it from the vehicle? Thanks

Dwayne

 

dwayne were are you located at

 

Autozone can test the alternator while installed.
The test with it removed is a little better test though.
Batteries on the low side of good are not something I would want to go out in the boonies with.

What year truck is this we are talking about?
What condition are the battery cables in?
It also sounds like you alternator could be questionable.
I have had several that charged the proper voltage but did not put out the proper amperage. So even though the volt meter was showing a charge the batteries were still low showing they needed charged.

 

I'm in central ohio. The truck is an 89 f250. The battery cables apear to be in good shape, I put new ends on them recently. Would charging the batteries with a charger make them test differently than just the charge they have been getting from the alternator? Would the test that autozone can do be reliable enough to spend money on parts? Will it tell me what kind of amperage it's putting out? Thanks

Dwayne

 

If its starting ok with the block heater go back to the glo plugs,test them,if theyre ok its prolly a controller prob. Maybe the controller is stuck on,burnt out the gp's and thats why the volt meter is low.

 

when it cranks ... without the block heater, is it just as long as if using the block heater? that would more than likely indicate a fuel problem (draining out of the filter)
if the glow plug controller is working properly, you will hear it clicking after the initial heat period. i had one controller that had corrosion issues on the power lugs and everything else was ok. just a thought.

 

I just fixed the gp's a couple of weeks ago, and put in new ones, motorcraft. I am getting power to the gp's, I've tested them with a multimeter. The relay clicks after the wait to start light goes off. It just seems to crank slower in the morning when it has not been plugged in at night. It sat all day long at work today, 8 hours, and still started just fine on the second gp cycle. It just won't start in the morning, and after cycling 4-5 times, the batteries are dead. I'm hopefully going to make it to autozone tomorrow and let them test the alternator. I still want to know if the alternator is not charging very good, will it make the batteries test weak like they did? Also, it usually takes 10 seconds or better of cranking to start even in the summer time, it starts like it is summer after having it plugged in.

 

Usually the tester will tell you if the batteries are not fully charged.
Yes if the guy running the machine knows what he is doing they can tell you the voltage and amperage the alternator is putting out.

The bad thing with the on truck test is this. If the batteries are fully charged you will not see a large output from the alternator even if it is working right.

When I had mine tested at Advance Auto they kept saying the batteries needed charging to test right.
The alternator was putting out 14.5 volts and 2 amps.
The guy running the machine could not figure out the alternator was bad since it was a 100 amp alternator only putting out 2 amps with low batteries.
But then they sold me the alternator about 1 week before I started having problems.
New alternator and all was well.

I usually replace my batteries every other year. With my snow plow and electric over hydraulic dump bed I am hard on them.