89 f250 Wont Start... Please Help

[suzy89]

Hello Everyone,

My 89 f250 wont start. It began about a week ago, I left music playing for too long as I was distracted.... and the battery died. After around 2 hours of trying to push it and walking around in the snow (I was in the middle of no where, no phone service), i decided to try and start it and hell, it started right up! A couple of days later I noticed the check engine light would light up but disappear after a few minutes. This happened around 3 times. I also noticed the alternator gauge on the dash was reading really low. I took a friend for a drive and stopped at the gas station. I only had it off for maybe 5 mins and when I tried to start it it made a little noise but thats it. I let it sit for about 15 mins and tried again and nothing. We found someone to jump us and we were on our way. Dont laugh, but about 5 mins down the road at a red light, my friend was being silly and i got distracted and stalled it.. So we had to flag someone down in the middle of the road to get a second jump. this time it took a very long time to jump start it. I finally made it home and the next day I tried to start it and nothing at all, no noise.. nothing. My step dad says its the alternator because he did that thing where you take the neg of the battery whilst its started and the car will die if its the alternator.. but i have heard that's not a good idea to do?? Anyone have any different ideas of what It could be. Could it be as simple as the battery? Any ideas would be great before I start replacing things...

Sorry for the long story but I thought it be best you know everything that happened with the truck.

thanks

 

[Austin]

I'd take the battery to the auto parts store to have it charged and tested, go from there.

 

[suzy89]

cheers, i will do that in the morning

 

[smokey]

When the truck is running what is the voltage at the battery.

 

[Bruners4]

With a fully changed battery, the voltage at the battery posts should be above 14 VDC but not above 14.5 ~ 14.7 VDC. Charging voltage is dependent on the battery state of charge, lower state of charge = lower charging voltage. A bad battery will cause all sorts of strange charging voltages. Also check cable connections including chassis grounds. Older work trucks can have rust causing electrical problems that will come and go.

 

[Fellro]

From the description of the low gauge and such, it does sound like alternator. Pulling the ground is back from generators, never a good idea on an alternator. You can also get the alternator tested as well, on the vehicle and off. The easiest but not always completely accurate is the voltage test at the battery. If as mentioned it is 13.4-14 volts, the alternator is working at least a little. A load test is the final answer on how good the alternator is, but if it is putting out 14 volts with everything on, then it is reasonably good.