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Lesson learned

john65td

john65td

Addicted to boost
Messages
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1
Location
Cassadaga New york
my truck has been slow to start and has gotten worse so i tested the batterys found i had one bad one. short on cash i figured i could wait till pay day to replace it.Wrong! i was only a week and the other battery kicked the bucket :mad2: so i had to fork out the cash for two. luckly i know the guy at autozone got them half off ):h two duralast gold 78 series $175 not bad
 
If you haven't also replaced the starter, you would be surprised how much the original has slowed down compared to fresh one. I was surprised how many problems went away after battery mod
 
Hope those batteries are OK. I had a lot of trouble with Duralast stuff back in the 90s, and IIRC their batteries are recycled. Maybe the gold ones at that price aren't, but the el cheapos for $35 aren't worth a dime. Same with Wal-Mart batteries. Better off hitchhiking IMO.
I've had good luck with Interstates, which seem to be among the best, but I really like AC Delcos and DieHards. I've got some Diehard Silver SUV units now, Paid $90 something apiece at Sears.
 
I also did the alternator charge cable mod. Made a poor connection and broke down plowing, but once I realized where it was bad, she charges much better when I'm plowing and really working the electrical system hard. It's definitely a good easy mod.
 
I'll have to hunt around for the post when I have more time. It's basically replacing the dinky little 12 gauge wire that goes from the battery to the back of the alternator with a 4 (I think) gauge battery cable. Allows the current to flow ever so smoothly with little resistance. Plus the original little dinky wire is probably beat by now. I think I remember a warning that some years have a fusible link there, have to doublecheck my facts.
 
Never had any luck with interstates. As a matter of fact most of the time they were the problem. Diehard Golds have worked best for me. I still have the two dead Interstates from my Tahoe in the barn. It was like a new truck when I changed them and they were less than 2 yrs old.
 
Detroit Dan said:
I'll have to hunt around for the post when I have more time. It's basically replacing the dinky little 12 gauge wire that goes from the battery to the back of the alternator with a 4 (I think) gauge battery cable. Allows the current to flow ever so smoothly with little resistance. Plus the original little dinky wire is probably beat by now. I think I remember a warning that some years have a fusible link there, have to doublecheck my facts.
Click to expand...

That little wire is a fuseable link which is a great safety device between your alternator and your battery, preventing a direct short in case of a failure between your 2 beefy batteries and ground. May want to think about that a little bit.
 
Matt, when I got the info at the other place, somebody chimed in with the same thing, some stereo installer electrical wizard guy, said we were all going to burn our trucks to the ground. Eventually it was determined that not all year trucks have a fusible link there. Mine did not appear to be fusible link to me, it looked just old and worn out. I've been running the battery cable mod since the beginning of last winter with no problem yet.
I will say this though, I've always been a fan of the Diehard Golds, last time I went with Silver SUV, and I've kilt 'em a couple too many times. Other day I ran it out of fuel, what I thought was a pretty short cranking time wore them down to wear I needed a jump. Seems if there's any reason for extended crank time, such as having run it dry or if it got too cold and I forgot to plug it in, then they crank down to nothin in about 30 seconds.
Work fine otherwise, starts good and carries good voltage, even when I've got a million things running. I think the batteries are either 2 or 3 years old now, I forget.
 
FWIW my 5 year old interstates will crank and crank and crank and crank many many times before dying out. Last real test was middle of winter with my head/injector/clogged sock triple wammy attack. I always crank a max of 20seconds (feels like an hour) and try to let a few minutes cool-down in between attempts... When big truck stuck in intersection then all bets are off, no gettin out and pushin.

I have smoked out 3 starters with these batts.... They are rated at 84month, but I feel funny replacing them that long, but with so many garbage replacement parts lately, I'm hesitant to do any preventive replacements, as proven good parts are hard to come by.

DTR tooltip - Aces hates Interstates.
 
Way back when I bought a dealer positive cable.....The whole shebang and it did come with the little alt wire and the fusible link in line......
 
just got back from vacation idk we will see how the duralast hold up im not the biggest fan of them but we see how they do. starter is little over a year old it went when i got the truck in may of 08
 
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