I have a really bad battery drain every morning they are dead, i have no idea where it is coiming from the alternator is new and the bats are brand new. I have tried to check for the draw with a meter can find it anywhere. anyone have any suggestions?

 

Do you have a drain and can't find it or you don't know if you have a drain, I was a little confused on your statement. Let me see if I can help. If you take a cable off your battery and hook a voltmeter between the battery and the cable you just took off if you have a drain it will register on the voltmeter. If the meter goes backwards just reverse the polarity of the meter. If you show a drain start pulling fuses. Pull a fuse go check the meter, if it's still shows a drain put the fuse back in and pull the next fuse and so on. Remember you have a fuse box in the cab and under the hood. Hope this helps and good luck. Also make sure your doors are closed lights off that would make a draw while you are trying to find your culprit.
Also remember that these new vehicles will no doubt have a small drain all the time because of the computer system so you are looking for a big drain. After all is said and done you might still have a very light drain but if your battery goes dead overnight you are looking for a substantial drain. Or maybe a bad battery.

 

yes i have a drain i did hook up a meter and started pulling fuses, the batteries are band new as well as the alternator but this is what i found . The guy who changed my alternator put a bigger one in. My old one had two wires and the one he put in has three small wires. The three wires coming from the alterator one is green which is going to the red one on the truck. One is yellow that is just connected to the post on the alternator along with the big wire and the middle one is white which is just cut doing nothing. When i hooked up the meter its says 4.24 when i disconnect the yellow wire from the post on the alternator but leave the big one it drops to 0.20 i assume this is a good drain to kill my battries overnight. I'm not sure is somthing is hooked up wrong or not. I also have a green wire with a red stripe that is doing nothing. I do have some pics but i can't post attachments

 

The guy who installed the alternator screwed up. Get it fixed.

 

That is a serious drain to kill two batteries overnight, you could probably feel the wire being warm wherever the voltage is going, get an amp meter with a clamp or just get the right alternator that would be a good start. Are you putting them on a good heavy duty battery charger when they go dead, or is it one of those cheapo automatic ones? When they go down they need a steady 10 amp charge over night. Good luck.

 

Oh, get it fixed as soon as possible. Unless you have deep cycle batteries you're killing your new batteries. An automotive battery can only withstand about 10 or so discharge cycles to full dead before it needs to be replaced.

 

Especially in that climate up there, I would imagine it is cold as hell there by now.

 

thanks everyone i figured out how to fix this hacks wiring. Actually it hasn't been that cold yet but its coming

 

It finally got into the 60's here and we are all wearing jackets and freezing but it will be back in the 70's in a couple of days.

 

Did you find the problem? I am having the same problem. New Batteries and alternator is new in Jan.

 

Glad to hear you fixed it. Our trucks have a pretty straight forward charging system. Once I read there were unused wires i thought oh oh. In case anyone else stumbles upon this thread, there is a helpful video for Ford truck alternators up on the youtubes. https://youtu.be/Cnt025qfCpw it explains what the wires do and what voltages you should see. I think you could have easily figured out you had a wiring problem knowing that. Good luck to the next guy attitude from your mechanic. My truck was doing something similar but it wasn't putting out enough voltage to charge. I thought it was a drain too. Oh well, problem solved, good luck to everyone.