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[dtinman]

HI, I have been having problems starting / battery drainage with my 95 Ranger. I bought it new and it has been a great work truck for my sheet metal shop. Been driving it less, of late, and lately have replaced the battery terminal clamps because it won't start and I get the clicking sound. Solenoid ? Shine up the wire ends and reclamp and then it starts. Until a couple days later when it won't start. Just now checking if the charge I'm putting on it will hold. The last time I jumped it with our car, and when I took off the charge cables it started to run rough, sputtering like it was flooding...actually giving it a tap on the gas pedal and it still died. Then Nothing when trying to restart without jump. I just put on a pair of marine style connectors to the battery, so I could put crimped copper wire connectors on the pair of wires for each terminal, and hold them on with wing nuts. Thanks for any advice, Doug. I did check the 15 Amp fuses mentioned

 

[gaz]

@dtinman
Welcome from Bremerton.

The first thing I would do is isolate the battery from the vehicle and charge it to its maximum level, then observe how well it holds the charge.

Sometimes replacing the cable ends is not enough; the strands of copper can be consumed inside the insulation with corrosion or even just enough to lower its conductivity. May be worth your while to replace bo the the positive and negative battery cables. When doing so, thoroughly clean the attaching points of both cables and all engine grounds.

 

[2011Supercab]

The last time I jumped it with our car, and when I took off the charge cables it started to run rough, sputtering like it was flooding...actually giving it a tap on the gas pedal and it still died.

Could be your alternator is dead.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Yes, pull battery and charge overnight. Should be at least 12.2V. If under that, time to shop. When the battery is installed, check the voltage using a multimeter (cheap ones work good enough for this test), and note it down. First started, the volts at the battery terminals should read somewhere around 14.3V, plus or minus .5V. That will drop down over the next few minutes and should be somewhere around 13.4V.
Come back and post results.

 

[Terrys87]

You have 30 year old cables, use a wire brush on all your connection points. I don't believe in just throwing parts at a problem, but I justify as just normal maintenance. I have had problems with the nuts on Ford Starter Relays working loose, me personally, I put the nut in a vice and put a slight oval of the nut to make it more of a locking nut. Make sure it is tight and good connection. How is the rest of the consumables, plugs, wires, filters....? I too would suggest a good charge on your battery and checking with a meter like others have mentioned.

 

[Curious Hound]

Definitely a voltage issue. Could you post a picture of your battery connections? They need to be clean and tight. As mentioned above, corrosion can get back down into the cables and destroy them. With bad connections (positive or negative) you are guaranteed to have starting issues and charging issues.

I second the recommendation to disconnect the battery and charge it overnight with a decent battery charger. Then, once we know the battery is charged and connections are good, we can start taking voltage measurements and diagnose any other problems with the alternator, starting relay or starter motor.

 

[dtinman]

I charged the battery overnight, put it back in the truck and it fired right up. The new cable ends look fine, tho I had to modify a sheet metal air tool to crimp them, not enough hand grip strength to do that manually. (and nothing else to use with long enough handles.) The terminal clamps seem very flimsy, it's hard not to overtighten them when I'm wondering if they're getting a good connection. I do like the wing nut action on the marine style clamps. So, it looks like the alternator is funky. And that could also be the source of a high pitched whine that's been happening when it gets good and warmed up. The best thing I ever did with this truck was to put on a stainless rack and bed rail caps. I went through a couple of steel racks, tried to keep them painted and unrusted in rainy Seattle, a losing battle. Every time I threw another extension ladder on, the paint would go flying. Powder coating was worse. The rail caps are 18 ga stainless. I couldn't bend that myself, so I had another shop do it, and I made and welded in the end caps. It all looks exactly the same 20 years later. I tie off to the snap hooks all the time with loads that aren't tall enough to fix to the rack. And I love using the cleats for marine style tie offs, so quick and easy and reliable. And I re-bend the hooks on bungee cords so they drop securely on the 1" square (16 ga.) rack. The ding in the tailgate always reminds me - don't back UP with the tailgate DOWN. D