Battery draining
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Battery draining
Hello, I hope I can ask this question here, im kinda new to this kinda deal, but anyway, I have a 87 F-250 with a 351 in it. The problem Im having is it keeps draining the battery, I cant figure out why. Does anyone know how to pin point the problem or has this happened to anyone. Thanks a ton, and sorry if this is the wrong post for this group.
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From: Belle Mead NJ
Is the battery new? Did you ck from drain? Take the neg cable off and get a test light. Hook one end up 2 the cable and touch the other end 2 the battery. The light should be verry dim, if its bright you have a parasidic drain. IF its dim you prob have a bad battery. Let us know if that helps any.
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it sounds like a parasidic (sp?) drain.
one way is to turn the truck off and get a volt meter and start testing circuits, start with the fuse block
im sure someone here can give you a chart with all the amperage of each circuit so you can see what the draw is supposed to be
hope this helps
one way is to turn the truck off and get a volt meter and start testing circuits, start with the fuse block
im sure someone here can give you a chart with all the amperage of each circuit so you can see what the draw is supposed to be
hope this helps
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Originally Posted by bsward
oh geez thank you that was very quick, yes the battery is a reliable one. what exactly is parasidic drain? how do i fix it? Thanks
a parasidic drain is a slow constant electrical drain. and in your case its not what you want.
basically something is drawing amperage from your battery when it shouldnt be.
Example: leaving the dome light on over night would be a parasidic (although a big one) drain as it draws a certain amperage from the battery causing there not to be enough amperage to start the truck later
the easiest way to do it is turn the car off, and pop the fuse panel and use a volt meter and start testing circuits and see what one(s) are pulling amperage above what they are supposed to.
how long will teh truck sit before it wont start again, it will give you an idea of if its a slow drain or a fast drain and we can narrow down what can drain that amount of ampeage
hope this helps
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thats what i thought it was but just making sure, thank you very much. so lets say i find that it is the wipper motor that is drawing more amps than it should, would a bad connection for say cause that or is it something bigger. Just courious. Thank You very much
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Originally Posted by bsward
thats what i thought it was but just making sure, thank you very much. so lets say i find that it is the wipper motor that is drawing more amps than it should, would a bad connection for say cause that or is it something bigger. Just courious. Thank You very much
usually these problems are a relay or faulty switch. i have even seen the ECM itself being the drain
another long way about fixing it is every night unplug just 1 fuse, when the problem stops you have found the circuit that is causing the drain, although there is more then likely 5 or 6 things run off that fuse but it will narrow it down for ya
Last edited by red89notch; Dec 18, 2007 at 10:10 AM.
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Posting Guru
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From: Belle Mead NJ
You can also do the test light trick and pull each fuse untill the light gets dim, will save you doing 1 a night and killing your battery over and over.
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From: Solon, Ohio
WHOAAA............................
Before we go any further, is the battery going dead overnight ect,.........or is it just not being charged while the engine is running ??
A well charged battery with the engine off or a cable pulled should read close to 12.75 volts accross the battery terminals.
With everything connected and the engine running, you should read at least 13.25 volts if the charging system is operating properly.
Before we go any further, is the battery going dead overnight ect,.........or is it just not being charged while the engine is running ??
A well charged battery with the engine off or a cable pulled should read close to 12.75 volts accross the battery terminals.
With everything connected and the engine running, you should read at least 13.25 volts if the charging system is operating properly.
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oh ya i tried pulling the battery cable while it was running to test the alt if it was putting out some charge, and the truck was still running so i knew it was chargeing, then brought a sabre home. what that does is put a load on the battery and measures the recovery time and volts and that is around 13 so my alt is good. Thank you though.
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From: Solon, Ohio
Originally Posted by bsward
oh ya i tried pulling the battery cable while it was running to test the alt if it was putting out some charge, and the truck was still running so i knew it was chargeing, then brought a sabre home. what that does is put a load on the battery and measures the recovery time and volts and that is around 13 so my alt is good. Thank you though.