Electrical problem

[Mav]

Am out of ideas, hope somebody has a good one. My 70 K10 has a new battery but when it sits overnight am down to 11.5 volts and wont turn the starter. I put charger on for 1/2 hour and its 12.5 , starts fine. Thought I had bad battery off the shelf so put in 2nd new one, same problem. Alternator is putting out 13.5 volts, (had shop verify, and they said might be regulator so put new regulator and condenser on, didnt fix. Battery gauge hadnt moved in years, stumbled on info about the 4amp fuses in front corners of engine compartment and replaced them. Only draw on battery is clock in radio and its .2 millivolts. Battery gauge now moves toward discharge when starter is engaged. Have disconnect on neg. batt. post but batt. drops overnight whether its on or off. What havent I done? Thanks, Mav

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by Mav

Am out of ideas, hope somebody has a good one. My 70 K10 has a new battery but when it sits overnight am down to 11.5 volts and wont turn the starter. I put charger on for 1/2 hour and its 12.5 , starts fine. Thought I had bad battery off the shelf so put in 2nd new one, same problem. Alternator is putting out 13.5 volts, (had shop verify, and they said might be regulator so put new regulator and condenser on, didnt fix. Battery gauge hadnt moved in years, stumbled on info about the 4amp fuses in front corners of engine compartment and replaced them. Only draw on battery is clock in radio and its .2 millivolts. Battery gauge now moves toward discharge when starter is engaged. Have disconnect on neg. batt. post but batt. drops overnight whether its on or off. What havent I done? Thanks, Mav

Have you tried removing the NEG cable overnight and see what it does? All disconnects are not created equal. If it drops with the NEG cable completely disconnected I would think it would have to be an internal problem in the battery. There could not be any external electricity flowing with the cable removed.

LockDoc

[Mav]

Havent tried that yet, disconnect seems to be ok, but will do it and see what happens. Two bad batteries in a row? Is anybody that unlucky? LOL! Thanks Lockdoc, will post result tomorrow.

[Mav]

Battery is down again, I bought the last 2 batteries a year apart and they were different types. 1st one was AGM, this one is regular lead/acid. Think I will charge this one up and unhook both pos. and neg. cables overnight because I know the place I bought it will be a little skeptical at first. Thanks for the help Lockdoc.

[Mav]

There is a ground screw 3 in. above regulator, I checked to make sure it was tight, the guy who fixed my problem broke it loose 1/2 turn then tightened it back up. Live and learn.

[Andy4639]

Is there any wires going past the disconnect to the battery? To check the disconnect put red lead of voltmeter on the + battery terminal side and black lead on cable side of disconnect. Watch meter and turn it off make sure it disconnects. If that checks out then it has to be the battery itself. Take the battery to another parts store first and have them check it out before you take it back.

[Mav]

Sorry, I reread my post and it was very , unclear? What I was trying to say was the problem is fixed, it was just a bad connection to the ground screw. If I had loosened it 1/2 a turn then re-tightened it I would have discovered the problem. Thanks for the reply, and yes, I had already done the test you described.

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by Mav

Sorry, I reread my post and it was very , unclear? What I was trying to say was the problem is fixed, it was just a bad connection to the ground screw. If I had loosened it 1/2 a turn then re-tightened it I would have discovered the problem. Thanks for the reply, and yes, I had already done the test you described.

Good deal!