Hi-
I’m getting nowhere with my electrical issues, and need some help. My truck will run for about a month on approximately $1000.00 worth of repairs. She is a ?94 K1500 Chevy with a 6.5l Turbo Diesel. With the price of diesel (not to mention biodiesel, Ai car-rumba!) what it is, something has to change; hopefully not me to a blood pressure medication.
The ground from the back of the alternator to the starboard battery (no, not cannons! the truck is a “boat”, but not a ship of the realm) gets really hot, and my radiator guy swears that the reason I’ve gone through 3 radiators is due to electrala-something. I took it to an auto electrician. They had the truck for 2 days, yet found nary an issue with it. Yet here I am a month later, with it hooked to my battery charger so I can get to work tomorrow morning. Things that have been repaired by me or others in the last 2 years are the starter (twice) new batteries (twice) New alternator (yeah you guessed it… twice), the Oil Pressure sensor (that was a PITA) a round of glow plugs, the brake thingy under the dash, 3 radiators, various smog modules, let see, oh! and I put some new tires and rims on it to try and raise her spirits. It didn’t work. You know what they say about lipstick on a pig…
Help please!
Diesel Drew
Put a fork in it. It’s fully baked. We know toasted. Say goodbye to the truck or the cash.
This article may help you find the battery drain: http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_runs_down.htm Also, visit the old girl when she’s asleep to look for any lights that may be on, and listen for any sounds (other than her light snoring), that can indicate that something is on that shouldn’t had oughta be on.
If tap water is used in the coolant, it may be causing problems with electralala (electrolysis). Do as GM advises: use distilled water, or de-ionized water. Your radiator will burp appreciate it hic.
Improper bonding of the radiator to engine and battery ground won’t cause a battery discharge problem but it can cause you to replace them like you have done. I would make sure all the grounding is is good order especially between the alternator an battery and to the radiator and engine, along with the battery and chassis. Make sure the battery is getting the full charging output of the alternator.
If there is a drain problem on the battery the very good link that Hellokit provided should help find that. Thanks Hellokit, I will keep that link for future referals.
Thanks for the link. I’ll post results back once I find my DMM (And I don’t mean my Dungeon Masters Manual… 