This is a 1990 f600 ford 6 cyl. diesel dump. It is not the alternator because I dissconnected the wires and the keys are out of the ignition. When I take an ohms tester with the battery dissconnected and take the positive and negative terminals which would connect to the battery I get a reading very close to 0 (.023). Any ideas where this draw or short could be? This just recently happened.
Also the GVWR of this is 23,000 any idea of how much weight I would be able to pull with this with the truck being empty?
2007-07-27 04:07:16 · 3 answers · asked by steady 1 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
The ohm meter doesn't help... There are things in the circuit and things that draw power when the car's off (computer memory, radio memory, etc...) The current being drawn is what matters.
You can really test the alternator by starting the car and then disconnecting the battery cables. The car should continue to run if the alternator's good (be careful not to short the positive cable to a ground). Is the battery good?
After ruling out those two things, I'd try to test how much current is being drawn from the battery with the car off (put you amp meter in the circuit between the positive battery terminal and positive battery cable). If the amount seems unreasonable (over an amp or so), remove different fuses and test the current going across the 2 fuse clips until you find the faulty circuit. Remember most multimeters will only handle 10 amps or so... Don't try to test how many amps your battery puts out or what your car is drawing with things turned on, etc...
2007-07-27 04:17:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hook the battery up and start the truck. Then take a voltmeter and measure the voltage across the battery terminals. It should be in the neighborhood of 13.5 to 14V.
If it is, then turn the engine off and measure the voltage on the battery it should be at 12V. If it is not, then you may have a shorted cell in the battery.
If everything checks out so far, then pull the positive lead off the battery and hook up a ammeter in series with the positive battery cable and the positive post on the battery. Note the current draw. You should have a little draw on the battery, but something way less than 1 amp. If your current draw is high, then have a friend watch the meter and you can start pulling fuses. When the ammeter drops, then that is the circuit that has the problem. Find the fault with the circuit and you should be fine. good luck.
2007-07-27 04:32:39 · answer #2 · answered by Fordman 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ah haaaa i see the problem if you reduce the gvwr to zero you will get a reading of 0 from the battery prob solved im good
2007-07-27 05:22:22 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋