long crank when cold

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Apr 26, 2010 | 10:17 AM

#16

brian42

Lead Driver

Joined: Dec 2006

Posts: 7,092

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From: San Diego, CA

Quote:

Originally Posted by billbot

thing is alternator may not be working very well. after a few minutes of engine on time, bats were only reading 13.38 volts. too low according to the dude at the battery shop. i think its supposed to be up around 14v. i'll look it up when i get a few mins.

Not necessarily. In addition to what npccpartsman said, your accessories are not at rated output when your are at idle. The batteries being low are a concern when you first start as they are a large amperage draw to charge. If you wanted to, you could remove all 4 battery cables after you start the truck and then take a DC voltage reading between one set (positive and negative) of cables to see what your voltage is. You should have low draw on the alternator so you can check voltage. Have somebody rev the engine a little to see if the voltage changes.

Batteries are rated at ~12VDC, so anything above that from the alternator and you are still charging the batteries, so 13.38VDC is still okay in my book.

Just my .02

Apr 26, 2010 | 12:08 PM

#17

billbot

Thread Starter

More Turbo

Joined: Mar 2010

Posts: 599

Likes: 85

From: Bakersfield

Sounds good to me. Everything is working great now: bats fully charged, alt keeping them up, cranks over no problem, even had my truck washed for free this morning! (day off)

Now I can start to concentrate on some other things for the truck. Got an aux input for my ipod the other day. Next is gauges. I know it sounds like my priorities are off, but i am sick of listening to the garbage on the radio.