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Question on start after batteries disconnected?

vaicase

vaicase

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Location
morley michigan
On my 95 code f. If i disconnect the batteries , It wont restart easy. The glowplug light only comes on for a second then off. The fuel pump is not clicking. Now if i keep bumping the starter after a few minutes the fuel pump starts clicking and the glowplug lights stays on and it starts right up. Is this normal? How can i prevent this? I unhook both batteries a lot. And this is getting old. Thank you
 
The PCM need to collect information on crank and cam position so it knows when to fire the IP.

Give it a short crank, turn off the key, then start.

Why are you needing to disconnect? Is something stuck on and draining the batteries overnight?
 
I think i have a short somewhere. So for the last 2 days i have went completely through the wiring. I even removed the steering column wires and checked for shorts. I checked all the grounds under the hood and cleaned them too. I took the grounds off the frame and body on the right side and cleaned them too. I even bought 2 interstate megaton batteries. And i don't want to ruin them. I will check battery voltage tomorrow to see if it dropped any, I think maybe it could be the alterntor might be staying on even after the engine is off....w.t.h.?. I would like to put a kill switch on the truck to kill all power as i don't drive it much. But this restart thing is driving me to fix it no matter what. i guess that's a good thing though. thank you much
 
I have another question. Does anyone know what draws power with the truck shut off and sitting for a while?. I know the radio clock. But is their any other thing that draws power? Thank you guys alot
 
you need to put a DMM on it and wait 15-20 min and then read the amp draw.can't remember the magic number it should go down to in full sleep mode but if it doesn't drop down start pulling fuses until it drops and that'll help you narrow things down. My issue was a miswired (from the aftermarket driving light kit) relay
 
vaicase said:
I have another question. Does anyone know what draws power with the truck shut off and sitting for a while?. I know the radio clock. But is their any other thing that draws power? Thank you guys alot
Click to expand...

This doesn't directly answer your question... but... I'm only going from memory here, but I think my amp draw drops to somewhere around .5 of an amp (maybe a bit less?). Mine's an OBDII, so if anything, it would likely draw a bit more (I think?). Pulling the fuses while watching your meter is the easiest and fastest way to do it.
 
If the wiring has not been hacked up, check for the stupid stuff.
check the under hood lamp and glove box lamp.

I believe if you pull the ECM fuse, radio bat fuse and security fuse, those are the always on fuses. (I think)

I need to verify these are the only ones, but you can try this in the meantime:
Pull those fuses
Disconnect negative cables from the batteries
With the KEY OFF
Connect a test light from the negative post to ground.
Is the light on?
If the light is on, pull fuses one at a time until you notice a change in the lamps intensity. (hopefully it goes out)
Turn the key to ON, does the lamp get brighter?


Before computers where in vehicles, this was the tried a true method to find a rouge current draw. A simple test lamp.
If you pull the fuses to the computers, the lamp should not light or be dim.
 
What jmiller wrote sounds good, and easy. I've never done that though. What I'm used to is pull ALL fuses and let the vehicle set overnight to make sure the batteries stay charged. Then put the fuses back in one at a time. Any fuse that has a draw should put out a tiny arc when the blades make contact with the socket. When a fuse arcs check your manual to see what is on that circuit and make sure nothing has a residual draw like the radio.

Don
 
I'm planning on walking through through the procedure tonight, if work cooperates.

Having an amp meter would also be helpful. But I've blown up my share of meters doing these kind of checks. (too much current)

A test light is simple, cheap, and easy to make if you don't have one.

John
 
Radio Shack stocks a digital clamp on amp meter that's fairly decent, and cheap! it's around $50 in the store, and ebay sells the same on for around 25... handles around 400 amps, and will measure down to .01 amps. works great!
 
Thank you for your help. Well today after setting for 24 hours and the batteries both hooked up and the radio clock memory still on. I have 12.44 volts. That's the exact same as i had yesterday. So i have fixed my draw problem. What it was i do not know. I have been going through all the grounds i have cleaned all under the hood and one under left inside under dash, i cant find them on the right inside. The ground post says there is 17. I found 4 small grounds on the right rear of the intake. one to battery left side. One from battery on the right side and one to battery to battery box. two on frame behind turbo. One to the body then body to engine intake bolt. And one under dash left inside. ,I count thats ten. It has even battery voltage on both batteries exactly 12.44 and idleing it's 14.5 volts even on both sides. Before this it was way off.from right to left. So thanks for the help on the grounds it really helped a lot.
 
Sounds like you might of also had a battery cable issue if you had different battery voltages while running.

Have you pulled the battery cable bolts out and checked for corrosion? ( don't forget the spacer puck) You might have been starting on a single battery. Double check or you'll have trouble latter.

I had vehicles show dead, but the battery tested as fully charged. Corrosion built up between the bolt and the side post terminal. Cleaned them and added anti corrosion gel, it would start right up.

btw, 12.4v is about 75% charge. 12.6v would show 100% charge. below 12.0v is dead.

Glad it seems to be Ok! :)
 
Well these batteries i just bought were the interstate megatron 2's. And brand new they only showed 12.44. Should they be more? I checked all the grounds and pos cables they all check out good. I was told running the volts on both batteries should be over 14 volts and even. I did not have that before. Now they are the same exactly. I am o.k. with t
hat. Should i check it a different way? thank you
 
If the batteries have not seen a full charge yet, they may not be at 12.6v (after setting), or the meter is slightly off.

Yes the batteries should be even. The question is why were they not even.

I have seen the side terminals build up quite a bit of corrosion under the bolts. Under current, (charge or discharge) this resistance would show up as a voltage drop (voltage difference between the batteries)

What kind of difference did you see before?

If it works, go with it. If you have problems again, check the battery terminal bolts first. Clean and lube them.
 
I think realized another problem. I never did drive the truck to charge the batteries yet. So i took them out and i am gonna slow charge them all the way up. And then let them set in the cold for a day and then check the charge. I just hope i did not get some bad batteries as i just bought them on the 8th of nov. thanks
 
I took both batteries out and took them back to the interstate dealer. And he load tested them they are good. The truck now has no draw except a little like i guess it should. Starts fine now. It was corrosion on the grounds and battery cables. Cleaning the glow controller conections and the base brought the voltage at the glow plugs from about 9.8 volts before to,now with the same battery voltage at the pos post of the controller.to 11.2 volts at the plugs. . Does that sound right? Not enough? or to much. I checked all the glowplugs and wires they are all working fine, So in conclusion it was corrosion. Wow. thank you all. this is very helpfull.
 
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