Charging Issue after wheeling

[91rangeryder]

I'm pulling my hair out trying to trouble shoot this. This weekend I took my truck to the desert to do a litttle offroading. In the middle of it all my charging system failed and the truck died.

Specs:94 4.0 4x4 AT supercab

I towed the truck back to a friends and put the battery on the charger then replaced in the truck it started it up and began testing voltage. The alternator was not putting out any voltage. I got 12.5 at the post no matter the RPM and it slowly started to drop. I bought a new alternator after taking the one in the truck to Autozone to be tested and they said it failed. I installed the new alternator and it was still not charging. So i take the alternator back and get my old one back that I used as a core. I put it back in the truck and test it according to the info in the tech library on TRS it passed all tests. Looks like Autozone was full of shit. I've checked all wires and have power where I should. Fuseable link is good fuses are good. Any Ideas ?

Thanks !

 

[97RangerXLT]

my guess is you have a bad/ broken ground to the battery somewhere. double check your battery cables to make sure they are not broken. If I recall, the only thing standing between your working alternator and charging the battery are the positve and negative battery cables. the fusible links are most likely the big inch and a half wide blade style fuses.

To test the wires, use an ohmmeter on both ends of the wire. should have almost no resistance. if it reads open or the needle doesn't move, you found your culprit.

AJ