Drained battery and now won't stay running?

[taxreliever]

So, last night, I had to go to a client's to do some work and I left my lights on on my POS Dodge Plow Truck which I was using. Went out to start it 4+ hours later and nothing. Called a friend to come jump it and after we let it charge a little and started it up, it just dies.......

When key is turned to on, voltage reads 12-14 and it'll start, but then die.

If I push on the gas, it will continue running until I let off the pedal and then it'll die.

The only thing that changed in this thing was that the battery died.....why wouldn't it stay running once we jumped it?

Any thoughts.

Going to have it towed home to charge the battery with a charger and see what happens. Then if that doesn't work, my next step is to get a new battery and if that doesn't work, then off to the freakin garage!

I thought this part of mechanics was simple....kill the battery, jump it and you can at least drive it home.....but no!

 

[smokey]

What year is the old POS truck?

 

[taxreliever]

What year is the old POS truck?

2001 ------

 

[taxreliever]

123k, never had any problems.....only put about 1500 miles on it a year.

 

[blacksnapon]

Just a shot in the dark here, but many vehicles have a "relearn" procedure after losing battery power. The ones I know of, start it, run at 2000 rpms for a couple of minutes. This allows sensors to "re-evaluate" the proper positions to be in.

 

[smokey]

I'm guessing the battery is weak or went bad also. Some Dodges won;t idle with a dead or near dead battery.

 

[taxreliever]

Just a shot in the dark here, but many vehicles have a "relearn" procedure after losing battery power. The ones I know of, start it, run at 2000 rpms for a couple of minutes. This allows sensors to "re-evaluate" the proper positions to be in.

I'm guessing the battery is weak or went bad also. Some Dodges won;t idle with a dead or near dead battery.

DING DING DING DING!

That's what it was.....it stayed starting as long as my jumper battery pack was hooked to it....let it run for a little with the jumper, then was able to take the battery back off and drive it home.

HOW COME I NEVER HEARD OF THIS? I always thought if you were able to crank it over and the alternator was providing enough voltage, you should be fine!

 

[taxreliever]

Glad I didn't call AAA, would've been a PITA, but probably the guy would've known what you guys knew and would've gotten paid just for coming out, eh?

Anyways, it's home now and I hooked up a battery charger to it and we'll see if I can salvage the battery.

Thanks again....man, I'm learning a lot these days about mechanics.

 

[taxreliever]

So, not sure if you fellas remember my story of driving my dent across country a few years ago......but just to show you how much more complicated the newer (and this POS truck is over 10 years old) vehicles have gotten or how simple they were in the past:

My alternator belt broke right in the middle of driving on the highway at 75+ mph and we noticed the voltage drop right off as our stereo started cutting in and out....good thing it was during the day.

So, it was about 120 miles to the next city where I could get another belt (and I never knew the PO kept 2 extra belts in the ammo box under the hood ) and we drove on the highway, 120 miles with the F150 on just a battery charge with no alternator....got to an auto parts store and believe it or not, I put the belt on myself in the parking lot (only needed one wrench and apply a little tention) and off we were.

One of my favorite stories!

I bought an extra belt and went to put it in the ammo box and that's where I found the other extra pair!

 

[m78]

Check this out Ken.

 

[taxreliever]

Check this out Ken.

Wow....that's amazing! I had to watch it twice, then go back and hit the pause and play for a bit....

Pretty wild. Can probably only do that in our older rigs, huh? The newer ones have serpentine belts and zero room to play...

Thanks for sharing....awesome!

 

[Beach66Bum]

I agree Ken, had to watch over, how cool is that!!
And yes, our old trucks are a cinche to work on!!
Not only do you have lots of room, it's just a block and a carb and some wires, oh and two belts, lol

 

[Fellro]

Ken, what was happening is that at idle the alternator was shutting off. Some systems keep the alternator engaged when a charge is needed no matter the rpm, but it would seem the Dodge system cuts it off or the battery was actually down enough that it wouldn't keep the alternator energized. Ran into kind of similar a while back with the wife's truck. The battery had gotten down when my niece and nephew kept getting in and out of the vehicle at the Indy race out here. I didn't revv it up to energize the alternator, so it never really charged the battery. Had to get it jump started again later. Been fine since. Have found the battery is going down a lot faster these days though, so may be due for replacing already...

 

[taxreliever]

Ken, what was happening is that at idle the alternator was shutting off. Some systems keep the alternator engaged when a charge is needed no matter the rpm, but it would seem the Dodge system cuts it off or the battery was actually down enough that it wouldn't keep the alternator energized. Ran into kind of similar a while back with the wife's truck. The battery had gotten down when my niece and nephew kept getting in and out of the vehicle at the Indy race out here. I didn't revv it up to energize the alternator, so it never really charged the battery. Had to get it jump started again later. Been fine since. Have found the battery is going down a lot faster these days though, so may be due for replacing already...

What was the purpose of this? Just doesn't make any logical sense why they would set it up this way.

 

[m78]

What was the purpose of this? Just doesn't make any logical sense why they would set it up this way.

Sounds like that Snap On jumper battery.


I've heard of this too but thought it was on older Dodge trucks

 

[Fellro]

It would be to keep from loading up the engine at idle, likely with the intention of not making it stall. Kind of a catch 22, if you load it enough, you will stall the engine, but if you don't have the alternator on, it will stall due to lack of charge. For the inital turn on, you have to revv due to just the nature of the alternator, they won't always energize at the lower rpm's like that, so it takes a bit more rpm's to get them turned on. It is also possible the design of the Dodge units doesn't allow them to be as effective at idle.

 

[dustybumpers]

The computer won't work, under 10 volts. They shut everything down.

 

[taxreliever]

Sounds like that Snap On jumper battery.


I've heard of this too but thought it was on older Dodge trucks

Yup, reminded me of that thread also....but I'm pretty sure my battery pack I bought from Northern Tool or HF, I forget which one, doesn't have that useless feature.

It would be to keep from loading up the engine at idle, likely with the intention of not making it stall. Kind of a catch 22, if you load it enough, you will stall the engine, but if you don't have the alternator on, it will stall due to lack of charge. For the inital turn on, you have to revv due to just the nature of the alternator, they won't always energize at the lower rpm's like that, so it takes a bit more rpm's to get them turned on. It is also possible the design of the Dodge units doesn't allow them to be as effective at idle.

Alternators can load an engine? I understand your catch 22, but that just doesn't sound right to me and I know I'm not very mechanically inclined, but come on! They never seemed to have this problem in the older vehicles where the alternator ran when the engine ran.

Just seems dumb to me, that's all....but thanks for the explanation. In my limited engine knowledge, my common sense told me something like this was the case!

The computer won't work, under 10 volts. They shut everything down.

Just seems stupid to me. My dent ran on next to no volts for 120 miles without the use of an alternator!

 

[Fellro]

Older vehicles also only had 45 amp alternators, while newer vehicles crank out in excess of 120-140 amps. With all of the electronic gear on the vehicles these days, the alternator does a lot more work. When the engine spins faster, it doesn't notice the draw as much as it would at idle.

Your dent also doesn't have a computer, along with all of the electronics that are needed to keep emissions and such in check.

 

[dustybumpers]

Just seems stupid to me. My dent ran on next to no volts for 120 miles without the use of an alternator!

Yeah, but it wasn't driving a electric fuel pump, electric fuel injectors, electric timing control, electric brake controls, etc.

How many fuses does the dent have? relays?

How about the dodge?