Battery Going Dry???
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From: Yelm,Washington
Battery Going Dry???
Can someone suggest why my battery keeps going dry... I have to refill it about once a month. Maybe a quart of water at the most..Except for the first time it went dry and it took near a gallon. I drove around smelling this god awful smell for about a week before I realized my engine wasn't cranking very well and finally thought to check the battery.Took near a gallon...Since then I stay up on it but it doesn't seem right..Should it use ANY water at all?What sucks is that it was a very expensive battery as batterys go, and is only about a year old..Maybe the battery is defective. Its a EXIDE 60 Premium, Group Size 65. My truck is a '70 f100 2wd 3sp column shift..Mechanically and electrically near perfect..
Any help appreciated.
Any help appreciated.
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From: Virginia
Check the voltage at the battery with the truck running. It should be around 14.5 volts. If it's higher, then there is something wrong with the charging system, and it's boiling the water out of the battery.
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From: Yelm,Washington
Thanks for the reply Franklin2. Well I did what you said and it was at 14.45 at idol...I reached over and reved the engine it went to 16.85 and stayed there until I let off of the linkage. Then it went to 13 something at idol..That can't be right. Should I just change the alt. or could it be something else? Thanks again.
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From: Virginia
I am going to assume you have a "alt" light in the dash. If you do not, let me know. If you do, this is the diagram of your system below. The wire colors may be different.
Ok, the alternator is obviously working, but is a little bit out of control. The control job is handled by the regulator.
My first thought would be there is a loose or corroded connection at the "a" terminal of the regulator. This terminal is what the regulator uses to monitor the voltage and keep it at around 14 volts. If this terminal or wire was not right, the regulator would get bad info and tell the alt too put out too much charge.
What you could go ahead and do is take the regulator out, scrub all the connections and the connector clean, and also clean where the regulator bolts to the fender or radiator support. You could also run a extra ground wire from the regulator bolt to the engine block if you thought the sheetmetal of the truck may be a little rusty, and giving you a bad ground.
If all this fails, you could try another regulator.
Ok, the alternator is obviously working, but is a little bit out of control. The control job is handled by the regulator.
My first thought would be there is a loose or corroded connection at the "a" terminal of the regulator. This terminal is what the regulator uses to monitor the voltage and keep it at around 14 volts. If this terminal or wire was not right, the regulator would get bad info and tell the alt too put out too much charge.
What you could go ahead and do is take the regulator out, scrub all the connections and the connector clean, and also clean where the regulator bolts to the fender or radiator support. You could also run a extra ground wire from the regulator bolt to the engine block if you thought the sheetmetal of the truck may be a little rusty, and giving you a bad ground.
If all this fails, you could try another regulator.
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From: Yelm,Washington
Thanks Dave, You Rock! Cleaned everything up but in the end it was that crappy looking volt regulator...The new one from NAPA is a beautiful Ford Blue.About $28. Volts stay in the high 13's low 14's no matter the rpm...Thanks Again.
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The regulator should hold the charging voltage between 13.8 and 14.2 volts. I like to see 14.0-14.2 on a short trip vehicle and 13.8-14.0 on a vehicle that gets a number of road miles per day. On the older mechanical regulators this could be adjusted but not on the new electronic regulators.
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