Batery light but runs fine ???

[Downey]

i have had the battery light on in the truck for about a week or now. the truck runs down the road fine and starts right up every time. except for yesterday. it was parked for a day or 2 and i went out to move it and the starter just clicked hooked up jumper cables and still just click. so i pop started it and it ran fine. i parked it in a place where i could pop start it again. well went out this morning and it fired up fine.

so where are all the chassie and engine grounds i want to try cleaning them and probably going to replace the alternator wiring.

truck is a 94 ranger 4.0 5 speed

thanks

Downey

 

[SierraCanine]

It sounds like your starter may be going out. I had an issue with my '89 where it would just get the click as you try and turn the engine over. It was intermittent at first. Tried jumping and that didn't do a thing. I could have someone smack the starter while I turned the ignition and this worked for a few days until the starter died. Took the starter to autozone so they could test it and what do know it failed to turn on until they hit it real hard. It all happened within 72 hrs so I would get on top of whatever is wrong before you get stranded.

 

[--weezl--]

that light, on most older vehicles means that there is low amperage coming out of the alternator, so if your alternator is say a 70amp alternator, and your truck takes 40 amps to run, your alternator could be putting out about 45 amps, which means that it is just enough to keep it running and a little more for long drives to recharge the battery from starting, but not enough to get a deep charge on it, as it drops, you may be below what the truck needs, and it will draw some power from a fully charged battery... i would suggest going to a parts store and getting them to do a full charging system test

 

[Downey]

figured it out it was the main wire from the alternator from the battery. replaced the wire and all is good now