starting problems and solutions . a short story.

[bushnut]

It's been mighty cold up here in the Great White North and of course I ended up with starting issues. Earlier this winter the old battery hardly had enough juice to turn the motor over, so I replaced it with a Motor Master Eliminator 600CCA battery, everything was all good.

Last weekend the temperature dropped to -36*C, I went out to start the truck before I left for work and TIC, TIC nothing wouldn't even turn over......My kindly neighbour lent me his charger and a few minutes later I had the truck running. Went to work, 8h later....TIC, TIC,,,F&*%!!!! my co-worker gave me a boost and so I went to Canadian Tire and purchased a NOCO GB30 boost pack. tiny little Lithium battery back that is 12v and 400A. Got to use it the very next morning as the truck wouldn't start yet again. that little boost pack is worth every penny!!!

So now I had to figure out what was draining my battery..was it just crap or was my alternator not working? so I got out my multi-meter and started checking...12.4v at the battery, start the truck and now its 14.6v so everything pretty normal right. then it hits me.....last friday the rear wiper started acting up, moving REALY S_L_O_W_L_Y so I get to thinking maybe I've got a short in it and creating a parasitic draw. pulled the fuse and isolated that circuit. Left the truck overnight and BOOM starts no problem the next morning even at -25*C. I now have fixed one issue only to find another but I can live without the wiper until it gets warm enough to work on it.

the lesson I learned is always be nice to your neighbours and maybe they will lend you that charger again.

 

[fixinto]

I was so happy u metered your alternator instead of just throwing parts at her. Good job man. =) Good story too. Glad you got er lined out. My alternator goes all the way down to 12.8 sometimes, and 13.4 most times and 14.1 or 14.0 when i first start it up, so it looks like the regulator is starting to get tired. probably has been tired for a long while now. but i usually don't change anything till it is broke. "well like the alternator / starter" you know, stuff like that. so as long as it wants to barely get er done, i will let her do just that.

 

Have a good one

 

Pat

[01Pathmaker]

Ah, another nugget of useful "mysterious draw" info to store in the old noggem. Good find! Keep warm up there.

[jyeager]

I was so happy u metered your alternator instead of just throwing parts at her. Good job man. =) Good story too. Glad you got er lined out. My alternator goes all the way down to 12.8 sometimes, and 13.4 most times and 14.1 or 14.0 when i first start it up, so it looks like the regulator is starting to get tired. probably has been tired for a long while now. but i usually don't change anything till it is broke. "well like the alternator / starter" you know, stuff like that. so as long as it wants to barely get er done, i will let her do just that.

 

Have a good one

 

Pat

 

Pat, isn't that just your voltage regulator doing what it should do based on the state of charge/discharge of your battery?

[jyeager]

It's been mighty cold up here in the Great White North and of course I ended up with starting issues. Earlier this winter the old battery hardly had enough juice to turn the motor over, so I replaced it with a Motor Master Eliminator 600CCA battery, everything was all good.

...

 

 

Bushnut, kudos on being clever enough to consider the issue with your rear wiper. At first, I was just thinking that your story was going to describe how 600ccw just isn't enough in your severe temperatures.

It's very smart to have that handy little jumpstarter! So easy to carry in the car.

I have a larger jumpstarter, not nearly as convenient to store in the car, but I keep it in the back.

[fixinto]

 

Pat, isn't that just your voltage regulator doing what it should do based on the state of charge/discharge of your battery?

 

Could be, but it shouldnt be all over the place in short time span like that, "as far as i know" for instance, if it was charging at 13.8, and i did not change rpm or apply additional load to the electrical, it should slowly drop off depending on the charge in the battery right? well not so much, fully loaded she shouldnt dip bellow 13.6 or so ever as far as i know. /shrug i could be wrong of course, i just know that the truck has always drug a little during start, changed battery a couple of years ago, and it helped some, changed starter this year and it didnt make a difference, "but the truck started" hehe. anyways im guessing the alternator is either charging dirty, " too much ripple in the output charge" or it's dropping off too much to keep up with load, and when it gets to the winter months, im usually only driving in darkness, with the heat on, so its fully loaded all of the time. "work dark to dark" Today it was -8 wind chill, and i thought it wasnt going to start leaving work this evening. So any day now i will be push starting her. Maybe its just time for another battery. we will see eventually when something gives up the ghost im sure.

 

Pat

[adamzan]

Bushnut, the wiper is actually a pretty common problem on the r50. It seizes but keeps try to go back to its "home" on the tailgate, thus killing the battery. Happened when we had a 2000 pathy as well. I think it happened to pezzy too.