Battery not holding a charge

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mustangman33

Member

Mar 13, 2004

262

0

16

Chicago, IL

May 2, 2004

#1

• May 2, 2004

• #1

Hey guys, I was having issues with my 5.0, last year I took it to ford for a diagnosics, and they found nothing wrong, my check engine comes on if hit the throttle hard, and the charging gauge is low all the time, and last night my battery died, it is a brand new battery from sears, and its a new altenator, the charging gauge was low on the old one and when I put the new one on its reading the same, I know that theres not alot to a charging system but what else should I check, I thought the voltage regulator was on the altenators.

 

94TURBO5 O

New Member

Mar 14, 2004

2,509

0

0

VA

May 2, 2004

#2

• May 2, 2004

• #2

I use to have serious issues with the same problem. It was my underdrives and using A/C, radio and headlights at night that killed me!!
I put in an upgraded 200 amp and an Optima red and my car has had no problems. Oh I took off the underdrives for the blower set up.
If you decide to replace you alternator again,
www.mralternator.com
The customer service is great and prices are the best I've found.

If you have boom'n stereo, make sure you amp is shutting off when the key is not in. An alternator cannot charge a dead or dying battery well and trying so will cause your new alternator to fail.
Hope this helps.

 

Car Nut

Founding Member

Jul 6, 2000

1,176

1

37

Snellville, Georgia (Atlanta area)

May 2, 2004

#3

• May 2, 2004

• #3

I took mine to Autozone cause they can check battery, alternator, and other stuff for free. I had a bad battery a while back, but thought it might be the alternator. After getting a test at Autozone, it was obvious which part to failing.

Unfortuantely, electrical problems are not always that clear.

Oh yeah, once I thought I had a dead battery, but it turned out my starter was bad. A friend luckily was nearby and showed me a trick to starting a manual car with a bad starter (basically, once the car is in motion, quickly pop the clutch in first and bam....the car starts up just perfectly. Of course, you'll have to do that until you fix the problem).

I'd check your engine ground connection at the block. If you're a fan of cleaning your engine bay, it is not too unusual to find that the connection with the wire, bolt, washer, and screw are corroded. Clean these with sandpaper and you've got a "like-new" connection. I clean all of these parts once a year, because of the moisture they get.

The voltage regulator is a part of the alternator. I didn't have to adjust mine, I guess, because my replacement alternator was for my specific car and not a generic one.

Just some ideas. Good luck.

 

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HazMat404

Founding Member

May 24, 2002

1,749

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36

May 2, 2004

#4

• May 2, 2004

• #4

yup, i have a new alt and battery (within about 4-5 months) and i even unhooked my stereo and something is still draining my battery. if i ever have my amp hooked up (been unhooked for 2 weeks now ) it will drain sometimes and sometimes not drain. its really weird and i knwo one day ill break it all down and try to find something

 

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mustangman33

Member

Mar 13, 2004

262

0

16

Chicago, IL

May 2, 2004

#5

• May 2, 2004

• #5

thats exactly what mines does, i can watch the gauge and sometimes its charging and somtimes not, could it be a loose or bad wire. I had the altenator in my other stang and it worked fine.

 

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HazMat404

Founding Member

May 24, 2002

1,749

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36

May 2, 2004

#6

• May 2, 2004

• #6

yeah, its supposed to over charge a little bit but mine is usually straight up and i dont think its putting out enough but i dont have my amp hooked up. im gonna retrace all the wires of the alt then check all my grounds to make sure there isnt a drain.

 

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mustangman33

Member

Mar 13, 2004

262

0

16

Chicago, IL

May 10, 2004

#7

• May 10, 2004

• #7

I think I found the problem, one of the fuses under the hood was blown, it was a 30 amp fuse, dont know exactly what it is because I cant find the manual, but when I replaced it, it charged for a moment, but then it stopped charging, checked the fuse and it was blown again, what could this be.

 

Mrgreen94gt

SIMMA DA NA!!!

Founding Member

Jul 16, 2002

448

0

0

West TN

May 10, 2004

#8

• May 10, 2004

• #8

Someone locally told me that one of the relays in the CCRM can can go bad and cause a drain on the battery, but it never throws a code. Seems reasonable considering the problems our CCRM's can cause once they start aging.

 

chaos254

Founding Member

Jul 27, 2002

467

3

29

NJ

May 10, 2004

#9

• May 10, 2004

• #9

have autozone or another autoparts store check your alternator/battery. I bought a new battery and it ended up being bad. I couldn't figure out what was wrong because I figured since it was a new battery that the battery couldn't be the problem. Also check the connections to the alternator.

 

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mustangman33

Member

Mar 13, 2004

262

0

16

Chicago, IL

May 10, 2004

#10

• May 10, 2004

• #10

What are ccrm's, I took it to autozone and sears and they tested the battery and the alt and they are good, and I looked at the wires and they also look good.

 

Mrgreen94gt

SIMMA DA NA!!!

Founding Member

Jul 16, 2002

448

0

0

West TN

May 10, 2004

#11

• May 10, 2004

• #11

mustangman33 said:

What are ccrm's, I took it to autozone and sears and they tested the battery and the alt and they are good, and I looked at the wires and they also look good.

Click to expand...

It's the black box mounted by the radiator that contains relays for the fan, fuel pump, and computer. They often mess up and cause the fan to stop working.

 

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mustangman33

Member

Mar 13, 2004

262

0

16

Chicago, IL

May 10, 2004

#12

• May 10, 2004

• #12

thanx Mrgreen94gt, Ill look at it when I get home.

 

AznStanger3v

Active Member

Aug 11, 2003

2,026

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47

Northern VA

May 11, 2004

#13

• May 11, 2004

• #13

Car Nut said:

A friend luckily was nearby and showed me a trick to starting a manual car with a bad starter (basically, once the car is in motion, quickly pop the clutch in first and bam....the car starts up just perfectly. Of course, you'll have to do that until you fix the problem).

Click to expand...

this is soooo off topic, but in the Karate kid part one, thats how daniel-san's mom got her car to start when daniel and his mom picked up his lady for a date sorry about that guys, i love those movies

 

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HazMat404

Founding Member

May 24, 2002

1,749

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36

May 11, 2004

#14

• May 11, 2004

• #14

yeah, ive gotten pretty good at doing that lately. i recently found out that my ignition switch (well where you put the key in) has to be perfect when i leave the car. it doesnt lock into place and you can move it around and make that chiming noise. i guess that drains my battery cause now i havent had any problems since i know to put it right where it is supposed to be

 

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mustangman33

Member

Mar 13, 2004

262

0

16

Chicago, IL

May 15, 2004

#15

• May 15, 2004

• #15

Fuse keeps poping, I took off the altenator and took it up to autozone to purchase another but autozone will not take back the part if it was used it for a test, so I decided to do a little more trouble shooting, hooked up a power wire to the alt from the battery, no charge, that was the one thick black and red wire connected to the alt, then I put in a new fuse, unplugged the test wire, fuse still poped, just ran the test wire from the battery to the alt and still popping, then unhooked the other 2 wires to the alt, hooked up the battery, still poping, so the alt is not even hooked up and I am still poping fuses, anymore suggestions.