Wont start making me mad!! Update starts but still battery drain still here

[Okbroncoman]

Ok

1966 v6 mostly stock motor 3 speed

So i have a battery drain been trying to fix. (for months)

Now wont start, I have put in new alt. ,new starter solenoid, voltage regulator and just checked the started is working good.

I have checked my gounds to battery and motor.

Battery is good

Started wont even click just solenoid humms



WHAT IS THE DEAL

Thanks hope you can help

 

[viper982]

If its an automatic check the neutral safety switch.

 

[DirtDonk]

Are you sure you have a drain? Does the battery actually die if you let it sit? Or does it act the same way day after day?
Did you get the drain fixed, or are you still trying to track it down too?

Hate to say throw some more money at it, but it could actually be a second defective starter relay. I know you just put a new one in, but I've had them bad right out of the box before. And so have others here.

Is the starter relay/solenoid bolted to a clean, rust-free surface too? The relay itself needs a pretty good connection to the body through the bolts. If the holes are super rusty or loose, it might act like this too.

If the starter is offering too much resistance, it might act up similarly. But you're saying you tested the starter and it's working ok?

What about the engine (inline 6 or V6?) itself? Does it turn over easily by hand or with the starter when you bypass the relay?
How did you test the starter before? On or off the vehicle?

You said you checked the grounds, but what about the positives? How old are your starter cables? How large? I've had the short one from the battery to the relay fail on me before, even though it wasn't that old and looked perfectly good. Just wouldn't pass enough current through it to make things work.
If they're old or have had some corrosion on them in the past, or ikf they're questionable but you figured they'd work for now, might consider new ones.
When it comes to battery cables, when in doubt, replace them. Just cheap insurance.

And even though this is low on the list of possibilities, it's still a thought. What about the ignition switch? Have you tried jumping the starter relay between the battery and the small terminal with the Red w/blue wire on it? Does it still just hum?
What about jumping straight from the battery side of the relay to the starter side? Is this the test you did before?

Just a few things to think about.
Hope you get it solved. For such a simple system, they sure do seem to have lots of potential for trouble!

Paul

 

[Rustytruck]

Remove the ground cable from the battery. hook up a test light between the battery post and the disconnected ground wire. With the key off start disconnecting the fuses and the fuse links one at a time until the test light goes out. Then you know what circut has the voltage leak. Then hook the wire and fuses back up and start disconnecting the individual items on that circut that the test light went out on. when you find the culprit you know what to address. if by unplugging stuff you cant find it it would be a shorted or crossed wire in the harness.
Common areas of failure are in the voltage regulator, alternator, ballast resistor, starter solnoid, ignition switch and the high beam switch and the wires in the steering collumn and the brake peddle switch . by using a test light you can stop buying stuff and replacing stuff in hope of correcting the problem. Make sure you check your test light bulb because if its too much draw through the bulb it will act like a fuse and burn out. I have used stuff from a small test light to various size bulbs depending on the amperage of power loss. get too big a bulb a small leak wont light the bulb, get too small a bulb on a large amperage loss and it just burns out.

 

[Timmy390]

Sounds like,
Dead cell in the battery......Looks like 12 volts till you put it under load.

Tim

 

[Chief Master Sergeant]

Mine did this the other day. Solenoid would click like you mentioned, but it wouldn't turn over. I replaced the solenoid and no change. Pulled the starter and had it tested and it showed it was good, but in reality, a part had blown off the starter shaft and lodged itself into the teeth of the flywheel causing it to jam. Removed part, replaced starter, and she started. Just a fluke probably, but something else to look at.

 

[shamu]

I sent you a PM with my phone #

 

[73azbronco]

My vote bad battery

 

[BronCowie]

If its an automatic check the neutral safety switch.

That's a good one... mine's adjusted so close that every once in a blue moon that contact doesn't close, I turn the key, and nada. Give a little nudge on the shifter, and away we go. I'm gonna get around to adjusting that some day. %)

 

[Okbroncoman]

So battery

How can you test for bad cell?

Parts store say it is good

Running now. Still not sure about battery drain will new cables help drain

Replaced alt. found slight drain from it with meter

About ever 2 weeks have to charge battery

 

[DirtDonk]

New cables shouldn't help stop a drain, but they can help use less battery power with less resistance than older cables.

So you replace the alternator again? Or is this the one you already mentioned as being replaced? Just getting rid of an alternator that was causing a drain may have fixed it. A "slight" drain from an alternator can easily drain a battery in two weeks.
Or is it still draining even after you replaced the defective alternator?

Paul

 

[Okbroncoman]

Replaced alt. 2 week ago. When I found drain.
Then all of a sudden wouldn't start so hope cables work

Battery. How do you test for bad cell


Thanks 4 the help. Paul

 

[dave67fd]

Put your meter on your battery. Open circuit voltage (one of the cables off) should be 12.6 V for a fully charged good battery.

Each cell is 2.1 V.

12.35 V=75%
12.10 V=50%
11.95 V=25%
11.70 V=0%

With truck running, alternator should produce aprox. 13.8-14.4V.

 

[DirtDonk]

Battery. How do you test for bad cell?

Easiest way I know is to get to a store that has a Load Tester and let them do a quick test. Probably do it right in the truck, but you can make it easier on them by hauling the battery up to the counter too.
It helps too though, if you find a store with someone that seems to actually know how to use the equipment!

Pretty straightforward actually. Can be done in just a few minutes.

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

I see the updated title, but that's just teasing us! Give us some more gory details to satisfy the angry hordes. ;D

Ok, so I know that battery cables are pretty mundane, but embelish a little bit to spice things up.

Glad you got it working. Now hopefully too, you no longer have that pesky drain either.

Paul

 

[Okbroncoman]

Paul. Help


Been 2 weeks Battery drained


Now what

 

[DirtDonk]

Hmm, still draining eh?
Ok, so an almost bad battery will do this. I know you said it was new, but if you haven't already, have it load-tested where you bought it.

Also, do you still have the original radio noise suppressors attached to either 2 or 3 different wires under the hood? They look like a condenser in a points ignition.
One would have been attached to the Yellow wire on the voltage regulator (mounted right next to the regulator), one would have been on the positive side of the ignition coil, and one "might" have been connected to the alternator itself.
I've only seen that last one on a few Broncos, but it could be there.

If you happen to have one on the regulator or alternator, disconnect it temporarily. They can sometimes ground through their case and create a drain.
You don't need to disconnect the one at the coil since it's only on with the key.

And lastly, did you check/test the ignition switch? Headlight switch?
If you can detect any voltage coming out of the ignition switch with the key OFF, then you have a bad switch and it should be replaced.

What else has been added to the truck? Radio? Any other electrical accessories?

Paul

 

[BwoncoHowie]

The battery drain thing happened to me twice on 2 different vehicles.
The problem both times was a shorted diode in the rectifier inside the alternator. The alternator will still charge the battery with a bad diode but it will only charge at 2/3 capacity. The batteries in my trucks would die in about 2 weeks if I didnt start the engines and run them regularly, say about twice a week. It seems the rebuilder on both alternators never replaced the rectifier but merely tested it and ran it again. When I looked inside my orig. alts, they had sand-blasted rectifiers! The aftermarket rectifiers on both alts were cheapies to begin with. There are different grade rectifiers to be had out there in the rebuild component world. I got fed-up with the over the counter rebuilt crap coming from the local parts houses, so I started rebuilding my own alternators and was actually able to buy new heavy duty rectifiers from a company called Transpo. If you have a local rebuild shop near-by you can always specify the beefier components for a little more money when the tech takes your alt in for repair. Im not saying this is the problem with yours, but it might be worth looking at. Those local rebuild shops usually advertise rebuilding of starters and generators also.

If you still have a battery going dead, disconnect the ground cable when you park it until you find the problem, because you can ruin a new and otherwise good battery by draining it too many times. You can also fry a brand new alternator by forcing it to charge a dead or ailing battery. Always better to fully charge a battery back to cacacity before installing a rerplacement alternator.

~BH~

 

[Okbroncoman]

So how do you test ignition switch and light switch

 

[justjeff51]

I had a starter bendix issue. It would stick and humm. You could just tap it with a small hammer and it would free up and work fine for a little while. Replaced the starter and had no problems.