Battery won't charge

[Doc Holiday13]

Last week my alternator died and killed the battery in the process(needed a new one anyway). So I got a rebuilt alt. and new battery. Now the battery won't charge. This is a 96 w/ 4.0 and 5spd

Haven't been able to hook up a multimeter yet cuz I can't find mine to test the alt.

On a side note I had to pull my gauge cluster to replace a couple bulbs in the dash and the check engine bulb(for emissions). Might this have any bearing on why something broke? I only throw that out there cuz thats the only work I've done on the vehicle recently

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Make sure The battery terminals are clean and tight and the grounds are good clean and sand metal to metal battery to engine and chassis engine to chassis check the connector to the alternator that all the pins are clean and pushed all the way on the alternator terminals. if you amp guage drops when you turn the lights on or the key on before you start it it is probably good just look at all the connections good starter solenoid, alternator and battery. Make sure your battery has a full charge then in the tech library is a section on charging systems use the internal regulator test procedures to determine the fault usually with a new alternator and battery it is a wiring issue just dont run it alot untill you resolve the issue as you can ruin new parts fairly quick.

 

[Quartermile]

If youre trying to charge it with a battery charger and not the alternator, if its too low you need to put another charged battery in parallel with the dead one. Battery chargers sometimes need to see a small voltage to charge, and to put one in parallel hook jumper cables up + to + and - to - between the batteries

 

[Doc Holiday13]

well i put in a new alt cuz the "new" one I got was defective. charged up the new battery and its still not charging. I ran all accessories with the voltmeter hooked up and just watched the voltage die

WTF??

I did find a blown 30 amp mini fuse in the main block but according to the diagram its for the power point inside the truck and not really critical