Well my stupid 01 ranger keeps killing the battery..i have replaced the alternator with a 130amp one and had the old one tested and they said it had a bad diode and something else well i have a redtop optima battery and its 3 months old i had it tested aswell and its fine so what else could be killing it? i haven't adding nothing new to the truck so i don't understand

 

LOL!

I remember the first thing taught to me in auto class, "never try to fix a problem by throwing new parts at it. First diagnose the problem."


To me it sounds like you have a wire touching the frame that is sucking all the juice out of the battery. A company told you your last alternator was bad to make some cash off of you.

I really think the first step you should've done was to buy a test light, and then turn off your truck and see what is still drawing power from the battery.

 

my truck did the same thing about a week ago,i put on new battery termails,and it has been running since!

 

well my alt has been whining loudly and my radio has been getting bad whining thru my sub and door speakers..so it was due for replacement

and now it dosent do it..i know my truck and know when stuff needs replacing..iam not a complete dumb *** when it comes to this..

 

make sure all your connections are nice and tight, and try and keep the engine bay out of direct sunlight if possible. It's been absurdly hot in FL and GA and AL recently, I doubt it on a 3 month old redtop, but that could be playing a part. you could always disconnect the negative terminal on the battery over night and see what happens

 

take the ground cable off and place a vom in between the ground cable and the battery and set it to volts you should see less then .5 volts if it is higher then you have a something draining the battery. To find out what is killing the battery start pulling fuses until you see the meter drop to about .5 volts then check and see what all is on that circuit.

 

when you say put between the ground cable and the battery what are you talking about? the positive or the negative terminal?

 

.....between the ground cable end and the negative battery terminal after you d/c it.

 

hell iam getting -12.68 damnit

 

I could be wrong

 

If I'm not mistaken you’re going to see 12+ volts no matter what. The PCM and radio are keep alive and will draw a small amount of current @ 12 V. In the old days disconnecting the battery and placing a test light or a voltmeter would work to tell if you had a draw on the system, but with today’s electronics it wont work. The only way to approach this is using an Amp Meter. I’m not sure what Fords specs are on the system. Maybe you can ask Bob. If you have a 0 to 10 amp scale meter hook it in series with the pos cable (black lead) then to bat B+ term (red lead) and see what you have. Make sure all accessories are off first including the door closed before making the connection. You can still pull fuses like the old days to see if you can narrow it down.

 

i have tried the method of pulling the neg terminal and putting conections between - and the terminal and i get a constant 12.68...i pulled every fuse and even unhooked my 2 amp wires that supply all addons i have added..and its the same

 

ok well hmm...

 

Its not voltage your looking for its current...You're going to see 12.69 V or what ever your battery is charged to as far as voltage. You need an inline AMP METER.

Remember, the PCM and radio is going to draw some current @ 12 V no matter what

 

amp meter? woulde this be built in to my meter?

 

 

Depending on the meter it might. My Fluke DVOM does. See if your meter has a (A~) setting and what range its capable of in this setting before trying it.

 

look at the post above..i put a pic of my meter

 

Your meter does have a current setting but its to low...200 milliamp max only. You'll need at least 10 amp range or you'll blow the internal fuse in the meter.

 

its a brand new alt..not even 3 days old

 

What Aux equipment do you have in the truck (Amp, radio, CB, etc.?)

 

ohc,aux power outlet in explorer console, power explorer seats, autodim mirror, hid headlights, 1 600w amp for sub, 1 400w amp for door speakers, flip-down tv, compressor for trainhorn, valve for trainhorn, cb, kenwood radio

 

Oh boy...Well I would suspect its one of them. Once you can get a meter that can handle at least 10 amps, then start disconnecting each item until you find the drain. The only other thing that would cause the battery to go dead would be an internal drain/short inside the battery. The other way to find it blind is start disconnecting one thing at a time for several days and see if the bat goes dead.

 

Just out of curiosity, after fully charging the battery, how long does it take to kill the battery with the truck just sitting? Also, how much sparking at the bat term are you getting when you pull the cable?