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Topic: battery looses charge (Read 3854 times) previous topic - next topic

battery looses charge

Reply #15
ok thanks man sounds good i will try that
84 TC - under contruction
2018 F150 2.7 4x4 STX
98 F-150 XLT - 4.6, auto, 4x4, extended cab

battery looses charge

Reply #16
Quote from: jcassity;289631
get your test light over on the pos batt cable.

Boy you are hard to convince!
It doesn't matter which side of the battery the test light is on for trouble shooting purposes.
But for safety, anytime you disconnect a battery, you should disconnect the negative first. This way if your wrench hits ground you won't have a lot of sparks and maybe have the wrench melt in your hand.
Since you should disconnect the negative anyway you may as well put the test light there instead of disconnecting the positive and then hooking the negative back up.

battery looses charge

Reply #17
i planned to try this but spent much time cursing at the downpipe nuts trying to get the exhaust disconnected.  I was just wondering if having the cable disconnected from the starter would change anything?  Should i put it back on to test this?
84 TC - under contruction
2018 F150 2.7 4x4 STX
98 F-150 XLT - 4.6, auto, 4x4, extended cab

battery looses charge

Reply #18
the wire that had power with the car off was the brown wire.  It and a green wire were hooked up to the positive side of the solenoid whitch is the side closest to the battery correct?  Is the brown wire supposed to be on the negative side?  just asking because if i put it over there there was no draw.  The green wire gave me no power.
thanks in advance
dan
84 TC - under contruction
2018 F150 2.7 4x4 STX
98 F-150 XLT - 4.6, auto, 4x4, extended cab

battery looses charge

Reply #19
Quote from: croga001;290399
the wire that had power with the car off was the brown wire.

Does this mean the brown wire lights the test light?
Or are you using some other trouble shooting method?
Quote
It and a green wire were hooked up to the positive side of the solenoid whitch is the side closest to the battery correct?

It should be the side of the solenoid that the positive battery cable goes to.
Quote
Is the brown wire supposed to be on the negative side?

No. If you are talking about the starter motor side of the solenoid.

Quote
just asking because if i put it over there there was no draw.  The green wire gave me no power.
thanks in advance
dan

Please explain how you are determining whether you have "power" or "draw".

battery looses charge

Reply #20
im not using a test light im using a multimeter.  I hooked up the positive battery cable to the battery and put probed between the neg battery cable and battery post and the only time i got any voltage was when the brown wire was hooked up.  when i took the brown wire off the multimeter was not registering anything. Apparently everything was hooked up ok also.
84 TC - under contruction
2018 F150 2.7 4x4 STX
98 F-150 XLT - 4.6, auto, 4x4, extended cab

battery looses charge

Reply #21
I'm guessing this is your 86 TC.
The 86 EVTM shows Brown, green, blue fuse links along with the red positive battery cable on the solenoid(starter relay).

So you if you have the positive battery cable along with brown and green fuse links all on the solenoid, you have voltage between the disconnected negative battery cable and the negative battery post?

You disconnect just the brown fuse link and the voltage goes away?

This is confusing because you should have voltage with either of the fuse links hooked up.

Very high resistance circuits which would draw only a tiny amount of current and a dead short which would draw all the battery can put out will both look the same the way you are looking at it with a volt meter.
This is why you should use the test light. The high resistance circuits do not draw enough current to light the test light.

The high resistance circuit on the brown fuse link is the EEC.
The high resistance circuits on the green fuse link are the clock, radio, voltage regulator and alternator.

It sounds like you have blown out the green fuse link. Does it look like it is swollen a little from overheating?
If you pull on it, does it stretch a little like the wire inside is broken?

battery looses charge

Reply #22
If your multimeter is digital and has an amp meter function you can try measuring the current draw with the brown fuse link hooked up.

If the draw that is discharging your battery is on the brown wire it will probably blow the fuse in your meter.
Or you could have a normal current draw in the 20-40ma range.

battery looses charge

Reply #23
if i remember correctly the brown wire was sliced into a different color wire now that i got all the loom off of the harness.  I also only had 4 things on starter relay pos, neg, green, and brown.  where does this blue fuse link come from?  I dont think i have one. my multimeter is not digital and idk if it has amp readings on it. ill look tommarow.
thanks
84 TC - under contruction
2018 F150 2.7 4x4 STX
98 F-150 XLT - 4.6, auto, 4x4, extended cab

battery looses charge

Reply #24
Quote from: croga001;290645
if i remember correctly the brown wire was sliced into a different color wire now that i got all the loom off of the harness.  I also only had 4 things on starter relay pos, neg, green, and brown.  where does this blue fuse link come from?  I dont think i have one. my multimeter is not digital and idk if it has amp readings on it. ill look tommarow.
thanks

The brown fuse link is spliced to a yellow wire.
The EVTM shows a blue fuse link spliced to a BK/O wire to the engine compartment lamp.
Some buttstuffog meters don't have a fuse. You could destroy your meter.

When you say you have a "neg" on the starter relay what do you mean? Do you mean the black wire that goes to the starter motor and is on a different terminal of the relay?

battery looses charge

Reply #25
no the negative battery cable goes to the block.  i just was confused because i thought there had to be a + and - on the starter solenoid.  i have not been up there tonight but there was a yellow and brown wire that were in the harness that were cut that is why i would like to find out what they are for.  let me get pics on saturday and get back to you.
thanks dan
84 TC - under contruction
2018 F150 2.7 4x4 STX
98 F-150 XLT - 4.6, auto, 4x4, extended cab