Ok, I have a 69 F-250 with a 390, which has been sitting for about three years in a friends backyard. I recently dug it out and I'm having issues with the battery charging. She really doesn't like to start when it's cold, or I haven't started it in a week or so. So on Monday night I went to start it and since it was cold it took awhile to start. I finally got it to start, but the battery seemed drained, it would turn over but there wasn't enough to start it again. Finally after trying for awhile there wasn't any juice to even turn it over. I jumped it with my other truck and it started just fine. I drove it around the block and let it run for awhile, turn it off and try to start again, nothing.
So, tonight on a whim I go and try to start the truck, it started, sort of, it ran for about 5 seconds and then shut off which is typical when it's cold. But, it started, Monday night it wasn't even turning over.
Now, the batteries, alternator, and Voltage regulator, are pretty new or mostly unused. And, they've all been tested as good. So, I have really no idea what's going on. Anybody's ideas would really help. I kinda need this truck to get to work, and I'm afraid it'll die on me half way there or when I get in it to come home.

Anyway I appreciate any help Ya'll might be able to give.

Thanks,
Dan

 

Check your batery termanals and clean them, the next thing I would check is the cables themselves.

 

Terminals and connections are clean. I did that the other day.

It tried to turn over a little this morning, but not enough to start.

Tonight I think I'll check the conditions of the cables. I think the positive is ok, but the negative might need to be replaced.

 

One of my trucks was acting as you said. Not a ford but still.
It would seem to start when it wanted to. If I jumped it it ran fine. Than it started to loose lights at night(like the symptom of a bad altanator). Ended up being a bad battery. But you said it was tested. Put a volt meeter on the battery. I was told if it reads 12.2v and under its probably a bad battery (possibly because it can't hold a charge). Mine read somthing like 10.4v.

 

i dont know but could the belt to the alt. be lose and not spining the alt enough?????

 

Could also have a voltage drop in the starter solenoid. You can check this with a voltmeter but measuring across the bat and starter post while cranking. If good you will not have any voltage (0). If you get a voltage > 0.2vdc you need to replace the solenoid. But my guess is a bad cable, or connection. I would take a close look at the negative connection at the block. When ever you replace the cables get the largest gage wire you can get. I think mine is #2 or 0 size. def is around #6.

With a volt meter, remove 1 lead and see if you have voltage, in series with the battery and lead. If you do, you have something draining the battery. If so the best way to trouble shoot is start disconnecting things till it clears. Then you have located the source of the drain.

 

sounds like a bad battery to me. "brand new" is only gauranteed 99% of the time.
from time to time a faulty product does get put on the shelves, either because of shady people or just a plain old mistake at the factory. it does happen.

 

Or you may not have run it enough to fully charge the battery. Same thing happened to me and I thought I had a bad battery. Got a Battery Tender which gave it a full charge overnight and now its working good.

 

Well, I bought a bigger battery, replaced the solenoid, and the positive cable. I also spliced in a wire from the alternator to the voltage regulator there was no batt wire from the Alternator to the batt connection on the VR. also the connection from the VR TO the battery was just a wire pushed in between the positive cable and the post, so I wired that up properly.

The truck starts just fine now, but it always does when the batteries charged. Now I just need to know if the alternator is charging the battery. Anyone know how I can test this?

Another thing. Does anyone know where the switch for the brake light is?
Is it on the pedal? My brake lights aren't working and I think it might be low brake pressure.

 

If you pull the neg battery cable while the engine is running, if the engine dies, the alternator isn't working.

Brake light switch is on the pedal.

 

Your battery voltage should increase to around 14.4 - 14.7 volts if it is charging the battery. As the battery reaches full charge it backs off. You can turn on all of your lights and see if the voltage stay in the 14.4 vdc range at around 1500 rpm. Most auto parts chains have a charging system checker. They connect to the battery and add load to your system while monitoring the battery. This is a free test most all do. Alternators require voltage to energize the field, not like a generator.

The brake light switch in under the dash, where the petal is full up. I had a problem with the petal coming up so hard it kept knocking the switch back. I put a piece of rubber tubbing to work as a bumper, problem fixed.

 

I took it in and had schucks check the charging system, still no charging volts.

It's got to be in the wiring between the alternator and the VR or the battery. I'm pretty sure it's wired right, at least compared to some drawings I've seen around here. Does anyone make a wiring harness for this? Or, some kind of prewired set up?

 

Did you knock the VR out? Give it a tap and see if a contact is stuck. Unless you have the solid state aftermarket one. I've seen users switch over to the one wire alternators eliminating the ext reg.

 

does a solid state regulator rectify the headlights, running lights, and dash pulsating and flashing all the time?

 

The control is better with solid state. What you describe is a fluxating voltage. This could indicate a bad winding or diode in the alternator too. This will be more noticable at lower rpm. You end up with a alternating current not a constant dc current. But headlights can pulse too, if the circuit is over loaded, or bad switch.

Do you have a ground wire on the voltage regulator? It must have a good ground in order to work correctly.

The wiring in these trucks are under size, you have a voltage to the headlights and taillight. So you can not run halogen lights with out adding a relay system to handle the load. The light switch will burn out. The high beams will put them over the edge real quick.