Electrical problems back with a vengeance.

Check the grounds.

 

make sure the cables are good. No hidden rot under the covering. Check ALL grounds. Use braided strap for grounds. Body to frame. Frame to motor. Motor to body.
Check for any constant draw.

 

sounds like its overcharging and frying batteries,have you had generator checked?HAVE someone check sytem with meter to be sure,you can"t just keep changing battery,sooner or later you"re going to fry something else.good luck,you could have bare wires touching out of site just not all the time.

 

Changing out batteries is a crutch, it gets you so far. Have you had a charging system check done under load?

The old timer check for a drain somewhere was to undo the battery ground, strike it against (best done in the dark) and strike the terminal back to the post. If you got a spark, you had a drain somewhere. Pulling one fuse at a time, repeating the test always worked for me. You can do the same thing with a test light or meter.

Testing the battery by itself does nothing for you.

Bob

 

I'm guessing you have tried a lot of the common fixes such as grounds and voltage regulator, etc. Here's one that is a little different.

Does the battery have a good hold-down? I've seen cars that had batteries move around under braking/acceleration and short the battery out on the bodywork. Maybe this is happening and you are able to continue driving around because the car's electrical system is running off the alternator. Just a thought.

 

Okay the way I read it, you have multiple batteries and regulators, a charging system that shows good voltage and an intermittent drain that kills batteries.
You did not mention if the battery test was performed by newbie at vatozone, so we will ***ume the testing was correct. (You do know that a battery MUST be fully charged to test?)

Generator systems can and will draw with the key off. Some circuit in the regulator that cuts the connection. I doubt many would fail the same way, but read up and check that. There can be another intermittent drain. A common one is the brake pedal droops enough to close the switch. As mentioned, a master battery kill switch will isolate the battery when the vehicle is off, and is a good anti-theft device. However, that can be a h***le and doesn't fix the problem. Trouble is, you gotta catch it in the act to find and fix it.
Generators can drain and charge too, so pulling it and having a good rebuild shop test it will take another possible culprit off the list.
Good luck, intermittent electrical problems are not fun or easy. I made a lot of money and gray hair from them....

 

I've never worked on a car with a generator, but here are some good tips.
Check grounds-Put your multimeter on continuity test from the end of all the grounds back to the frame or battery ground. No continuity bad ground.
Check current draw- Put multimeter in 10 amp mode disconnect on terminal from battery. Put one lead on battery and one lead on terminal. If you have a draw start pulling fuses until it goes away.
I ***ume there is a voltage regulator?
As you increase RPMs your voltage should go up, generator is fine, it should stop at 13.8V =/- .5V. If it goes higher than you have a bad voltage regulator and it is frying your battery.

 

You using Optimas, wet cells, or tried both?
Generators charge differently than alts, maybe dry cell batts aren't the best answer.

 

What about the cables themselves? Are they new?

 

I had a car with gremlins such as this, once the brake light switch was out of adjustment and the lights stayed on all the time, and then the starter solenoid failed internally and leaked power, just enough to drain, not enough to engage. Many hours with an ohm meter later, it lasted another 2 years.

 

I've got a rebuilt 12 volt generator, (1946) off my A. Local ford tractor guru rebuilt it. It's just been sitting on the shelf over 2 years. If you want to try it, let me know, I'll send it your way.

 

Since you have checked over everything multiple times, it is time to start replacing items. Either do it one part at a time to find out what the culprit was, or do them all and never know.

Start with the cheapest part (or borrow a part to test).

battery cables
solenoid
voltage regulator
amp gauge
horn relay
headlight switch
brake light switch
ignition switch
generator
starter
battery
ground straps
individual wires
turn signal switch (if any)
fuse block
bulb sockets

Do you use dielectric grease on all connections and sockets? Helps prevent corrosion. But that would actually be a case of no juice flowing, and it sounds like you have a case of too much juice flowing.

 

thats what I'm thinking too. You might be cooking it.

 

regulator might not be kicking off. Sounds like the problem never went away.

 

What I have done to find phantom electrical drain is to start with the basic's which is simple and free. remove all the fuses and let the car sit for time enough that the battery would lose charge, then add the fuses one at a time and then you can rule out each circuit. If you don't find the drain in the fused circuits then start disconnecting power to the generator, starter etc, it's a slow process but you will find the problem, just don't overlook anything that has wires. Hope this will help with your woogies.

 

A simple VAT tester will tell all. An overcharging condition usually drinks the water out of the battery and it should sulfate enough to cause a stink or a bulged battery case. I like to see cars charging at bewteen 13.5 and 14.1 volts.

Bob

 

This is probably not your problem, but this happened to me once. I had a '71 Scout II with a 345 V8. I had the same kind of intermittent battery problems. After nearly pulling my hair out for two weeks, I found the problem. For some odd reason, someone had cut the wire going from battery to starter and fixed it with a **** connector then wrapped it back up like factory. The wires were almost coming out of the connector and if it wiggled just the right way, no starting.

The reason I posted this story is to let you know I figured out the problem by checking each wire one by one very closely. Not just a once over glance. Sometimes it's easy to overlook a simple problem. Check your grounds. Pull them off and make sure there's bare metal. Make sure no wires are getting pinched. Make sure there's no bare spots, all it takes is a tiny bare spot shorting to ground.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

^^^This sounds to be the most likely from the symptoms you describe.^^^

When you "bumpstart" you are able to drive home, which means that the charging system is delivering voltage.

When you get home and immediately try to start the engine again, it is already dead.

When you get the battery tested, it is determined to be "bad".

A battery should be fully charged to be tested. (No mention of whether you charged it to test it.)

Have you checked the water in the batteries after they have died?

If your charging system is overcharging the batteries, it could certainly be vaporizing the water in the cells.

If the batteries are drying up, then it would point to the voltage regulator as the most likely culprit.

I have seen these be bad right out of the box.

Some of the older styles are adjustable and you may just need to get yours checked.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

I had similar problems in the past with a truck. In that case it was a bad ground from the regulator to the inner fender (and actually the ground to the inner fender wasn't the greatest also) roughed up the paint under the regulator bolt holes AND added a ground strap to the inner fender and the problem went away.

 

Why's he running a generator anyway? What's the car, and the engine/
Sometimes TRAD = NFG.

 

Yeah, this guy really belongs on this board.

 

Kevin...I'm sure you've done this, but the battery, does anything else work? Just not engaging the starter?
I've seen guys swap out batteries (and other parts) time and time again when the real problem is simply the wiring....

 

flathead ford powered:

 

If you wired it with a ammeter like the factory did you should be able to see any draws in the ammeter gauge. I've had intermittent draws like sticky brake pedals, a dome light left on and the lights left on. It always shows as a discharge in the ammeter when you shut it off. I always check the gauge before getting out after I've turned it off. It has saved my day many times.

If it is a sudden intermittent event like you say with no warning then I tend to think it is a draw draining the battery. The ammeter will show that the generator is charging. Even if the generator or regulator quit it should not kill the battery in the short period of time that you describe. Keeping an eye on the ammeter will let you know that it needs attention before it dies all together.

I had the same problem with the earlier 3 brush generator that used a cut out and not a VR. The cut out would stick and drain the battery. I started to park it on hills so that a I could jump start it in gear and drive it home when it would happen. The generator would charge. The cut out just drained it soon after it was shut off. Your system is different but the sudden battery draining seems to be the same. I can relate to your frustration.

Do you have an ammeter? If so where is the power to feed the car picked up?

 

What kind of battery?