Battery dead?

[TillamookB2]

My 88 B2 suddenly lost power. Even the dome lights were out. We hooked up jumper cables straight to the battery terminals (Not good, I know) and all the electrical worked just fine. We let the cables work on the battery for a few minutes and when I turned the key I got rapid clicking and then nothing.
I grabbed the battery from a thunderbird and still nothing unless jumper cables are there.
I put the original battery on a charger at ten amps and the full charge light came on about twenty minutes later. I haven't been back to the truck (which died at a friends house) to try the "charged" battery.
Someone suggested that my alternator might be toast.
Anyone have an idea?

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Clean the battery post and cable clamps good, lightly sand them and make sure they are tight. somtimes they look good but dont get a good connection. If it starts with jumper cables then it is more than likely the battery or terminals. Have someone try to start it while your at the battery you should see smoke or hear arcing noise if the terminals are bad. Once you get them good put a light coat of wheel bearing grease on them to protect from corrosion.

 

[Sunk]

If the alternator were toast, it should run but die after a little while as the engine drains the power from the battery and can't recharge it. Since you say you hear a clicking sound, I'd check and clean as many connections around the battery as you can.

 

[TillamookB2]

Right after we disconnected the jumper cables, the dome lights glowed weakly. Not nearly enough juice to start. So, I'm pretty sure its the battery. I'm taking the battery out of my boat and putting it in the bronco. It should be fine to get over to the auto parts store for testing.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Once you get a new battery be sure and check the charging system out good. Running it with a bad battery can ruin the alternator or voltage regulator or possibly that is why the battery is bad. Dont run it very long without checking it. You can do it with a volt ohm mrter or have it done at the part store.

 

[06RangerXLT]

alternator. if it just quit, its the alternator. an engine will run on a shot battery and a good alternator, but it wont run on a bad alternator and a good battery. throw a new alternator in it, and charge your battery and be done with it. batteries dont suddenly die, unless they have no source of recharging and a power drain. power drain is your engine, no charging source is the bad alternator.

 

[adsm08]

it wont run on a bad alternator and a good battery.

Uh, yeah it will. If the alternator goes completely it will run on the battery until it gets down to about 5 volts.

I would check the battery. Take it to Sears or AZ or Advance or the local repair shop, etc and have it tested. Run with the results of that test, but if it's bad, once you get it started also have the alternator tested.

If you have a volt meter and you can get it started look for A/C voltage at the battery terminals. If the rectifier burns out and the alternator starts throwing A/C voltage onto the system, that can kill a battery fast and do all sorts of other bad things.

 

[goodie85]

alternator. if it just quit, its the alternator. an engine will run on a shot battery and a good alternator, but it wont run on a bad alternator and a good battery. throw a new alternator in it, and charge your battery and be done with it. batteries dont suddenly die, unless they have no source of recharging and a power drain. power drain is your engine, no charging source is the bad alternator.

you sir....are a moron

 

[06RangerXLT]

you sir....are a moron

how do you figure? he said the truck just quit and every light shut off. if he has a shitty battery, as long as the alternator is working the truck will keep running. if the alternator fails and the truck is running off the battery, it will eventually kill the battery and everything will shut off. hence bad alternator.

this is basic electrical knowledge.

 

[robertc1024]

batteries dont suddenly die.

They sure as hell do where I live. I've had 4 or 5 that worked perfectly, then just quit.

 

[baxtej44]

They sure as hell do where I live. I've had 4 or 5 that worked perfectly, then just quit.

me too. work great one day, the next day when you go to start it doesn't.

i'm pretty sure we've all had this, got a new battery put on, works like a charm. it was obviously the battery.

 

[goodie85]

how do you figure? he said the truck just quit and every light shut off. if he has a shitty battery, as long as the alternator is working the truck will keep running. if the alternator fails and the truck is running off the battery, it will eventually kill the battery and everything will shut off. hence bad alternator.

this is basic electrical knowledge.

ok well first off with a bad alternator you dont loose all power at once it shut off and your dome light and dash lights will still be on but there wont be enough volts to turn it over you dont just loose power from everything

this is basic electrical knowledge

 

[06RangerXLT]

ok well first off with a bad alternator you dont loose all power at once it shut off and your dome light and dash lights will still be on but there wont be enough volts to turn it over you dont just loose power from everything

this is basic electrical knowledge

explaining common sense is getting seriously annoying.

if your driving down the road, and your alternator shits on itself, the battery will run out of power a few miles later and EVERYTHING WILL SHUT OFF.

****

 

[LIMA BEAN]

Not only do they suddenly die they can go boom too, big baddda boom.

 

[goodie85]

explaining common sense is getting seriously annoying.

if your driving down the road, and your alternator shits on itself, the battery will run out of power a few miles later and EVERYTHING WILL SHUT OFF.

****

kinda like how you were saying in another post that ball joints cause jerking hahahahahahahahahaha