Well, I was at the shop this past weekend, did the front rotors and an oil change. No filter change, because I had thought they gave me the wrong filter. However, I just had an aftermarket filter and cap. Either way, I have the right filter and cap now. Can I swap them without draining any oil?

So after I'm done I pull the truck out of the bay and put it with the rest of the cars. 3 hours go by, I get ready to go home, get in the truck, click. Batteries were dead. I have no idea what happened, I had assumed that I left the lights on or door open or something while I was doing the oil and rotors. I brought out the charger with a 200a jump setting, let it sit on the truck for a few minutes, and started it up. Drove 2 hours home, and hadn't had a problem since, until this morning. Went out, primed the glow plugs, as I do every morning, unplugged the block heater, and went to start it. Nothing but clicks. So I got my charger I keep at home that has a 225a jump circuit. Charged for a few minutes, and then it started.

I have noticed that since the oil change, the engine cranks much longer than it did before, prior to it starting. Other than that, all other operation seems normal. Oh, both times when the batteries "went dead", the headlights were at full brightness, everything electroncially worked, except the tripometer reset to 0, and while i normally have the trip displayed, it reverts to my actual miles, as though there were a power loss. However my avg mpg in the overhead console does not change, it retains it's memory. My battery terminals are solid and connected properly. I have a cell phone charger in one cigarette lighter, and a gps in the other, at pretty much all times. The gps is not on, and there is nothing plugged into the cell phone charger, so it's just 2 little red LED's on the plugs indicating they have power in the event that I want to use them.

If anyone could provide something, i would greatly appriciate it. I just find it strange that everything is fine until I end up under the hood. Also, my oil plug was stripped/rounded. I managed to get it off with an impact wrench. The little magnet on it came off in the process. There were barely any shards of metal on it, only about 3, and all very small. I welded a bolt onto the oil plug while it was out, so now i'm 14mm to change the oil. Thanks guys.

 

Your batteries are bad.. they are no longer able to put out the rated CCA... I just replaced both of mine... the old ones would not even put out 1/2 the rated CCA when I tested them with a carbon pile load tester...
they will prob start ok warm but as the temp drops so does the current output of the batteries..
I just typed a nice detailed post and then hit wrong button and it got deleted.. Go get your batteries tested on a carbon pile load tester... they will fail!
Oh, and the engine is cranking longer cuz the batteries don't have enough current to turn the starter fast enough to start easily..

The reason the problems occurred after u started working on it is called Murphy's Law of Automotive repair!... its just a coincidence,

I went with Everstart Maxx batteries from Walmart $73 each 850cca and 3 yr free replacement. also a consumer reports top pic for performance... plus if they crap out there is a Walmart on every other street corner to get new ones.. They will replace them based on manufacture date sticker on battery if you loose receipt... mine ar eJan 09 and ship date of Feb 09.... try and get ones that have not sat on a shelf for several months

 

Pretty much what he said. You worked on the engine and just noticed the electrical issue and the temps might have had a hand in it.

You may not have two flat batteries, it only takes one short cell to kill the other 11 in your case. The batteries can feed off each other and take them both down. However your better off replacing both of them so they have a close manufacturing date and similar build to prevent one dragging the other down.

 

Sounds like a bummer. I was thinking of replacing them with Optima Yellow Top batteries, but I can't seem to find a location in the area that has them for sale. I should be using deep cycle batteries for this, right?

 

Not really. Deep cycle batteries are good for when you have a lot of power draw with the engine off. A starting battery will generally give you more amperage when starting.

 

$73 seems super cheap, especially compared to the Optima cost, of around $150 each. If they're dead when I go to leave, that means I'm pretty much in a heap of trouble. I don't know of anyone that can possibly jump me. There's no diesels in the lot but me, and a whole lot of hybrids. There isn't a jump pack in existence that i'm aware of that can jump me, either. Maybe I can call a tow truck and just have him jump me... Last time i had to do that I was in my car, he showed up with a jump pack and I'm holding my jumper cables. He said he couldn't jump strait from his truck, for some liability reasons. I noticed when I jumped it this morning it was reading 11.4 volts, obviously low. I'm researching where I can buy batteries right now off the shelf that is decent. How are those wally world battieres working for you?

 

That's the thing, deep cycle batteries i figured would be good, as I have to prime those glow plugs every time I start, 1100 amps of draw, then a 200amp starter.

 

The glow plugs shouldn't be that kind of demand. Deep cycles are preferred when you need 50-100 for a couple of hours, but they aren't as good at dumping 500 amps for a couple of seconds. With the diesel, I highly suspect you'd be better off with a battery that can dump massive amperage instantly.

Optima yellows will most likely work, but unless your running a winch or a big stereo system, I don't see the need for them.

1100 amps would take some massive wiring. Even 100 requires a good sized wire. The Amperage draw you need is only for a few seconds to a minute, which two starting batteries should deliver fine.

 

Glow plugs are about 20 Amps each on average.. starter can hit 400-500 amps draw momentarily. Yep the Wally world batteries work great.. group 65N you will need a 1/2 wrench for the terminals and 9/32 or 5/16 (forget which one it is) socket for the hold down on the batteries..

Deep cycle batteries are not capable of the high sustained current that starting batteries are esp at cold temps.

Diesels take a lot of juice to jump when cold.. unless you have 0 gauge jumper cables you will probably need 2 sets of cables or batteries... get someone to give u a ride to Wallymart for batteries

 

I just went out and started it. It was cranking extremely fast. I guess that's the difference between the 15w-30 that the dealer had in it, and the 5w-40 synthetic I just put in it. Thing is, it wouldn't start, it just cranked and cranked, until I gave up and let off, and it started the second I let off the starter.

 

I thought the glow plugs were 130-140a each, x8. I got the info from another post though, so who knows. I have 0 guage jumper cables in the back of my truck, it's just, what vehicle can supply the required amperage other than another diesel?

 

It's not the electrical supply from the alternator, when you use jumper cables, it's the equivalent to wiring more batteries in parallel. When another vehicle jump starts a high demand like your diesel, if they shut the engine off before the battery can recharge, they'll need a jump to restart too.

A jump pack for each battery might do if the battery being jumped still has some reserve. A single jump pack might even have enough juice if the batteries are just weak. The same would go with adding another battery from another vehicle to your charging system.

 

I've had bad luck with jump packs. My 2 jump packs can't even jump my SVX, which requires ~750 CCA. It would start to turn it over, then just die. I'm sure that the problem is more related to me than the jump pack, though. I can get it to turn over, but it won't start in 3-4 turns like normal, it'll go for 20 or so and still not start. This is what concerns me. It will crank fast too, much faster than it normally would.

Also, quick touch on that oil question, can i get away with changing the filter and cap without draining some oil?

 

If the oil is good, then should you have too, drain it into a clean container and reuse it once the filter is installed. As long as you keep the oil contaminate free, you can just put it right back in.

 

Not much else really, my batteries croaked on me three times over 6 years and I had to jump it a few times.

The first time in 2003, it took a cummins 30 mins hooked to BOTH batteries to get it to start. His batteries were no good after he spent 30 mins trying to jump my truck.

The second time in 2003 (when I went to get batteries) it took two tow trucks, a portable battery charger, and another 30 mins to get it to start.

(Both times were with the key off)

If the batteries are already weak, the glow plugs will drain whatever power is left in them. The time I had that cummins jump start me, the batteries showed 12-14 volts at KOEO, but within seconds it went well below that and lead to a no crank, no start situation.