just another day fighting with a ford!

heres the story, pulled the maverick home yesterday to check why my directional was blinking so slow, its a new battery so whats the deal???, couldnt find anything and i was gona bring it to my mechanic, went to get it out of the garage and it didnt start!!!so me and my dad and the mechanic were talking (on the phone) and we thought it was the altenator, changed the altenator (42 bucks) and nothing, gave it a jump and we were trying to charge the battery but no luck...so im out for another battery...now i would return the resently bought battery but its the old alternators fault so its out of the warenty

what i should have done is get the altenator at a different place but i got both the altenator and the battery at the same place

put the new battery in it and it starts like a flip of a switch....no kidden just...turn key and vroom!

 

I think you need to find the problem before just changing parts. Go get your old alternator checked, and see if it's working. Get your old battery load tested, and see if it's good, it kinda hard to charge a battery with a jump. How about your battery cables? and connections? are they any good?

 

In front of your car,, on the radiator suport,, there is a ground wire,, on both sides,, take it off and clean it up,,,,and or replace the eyelet and solder a new one on,,, also in the trunk,, take the socket out of the tail light assembly and clean it,,, Both metal sockets and the housing,,you do not need to remove it,,

 

see i had the same problem with my comet. i went and change the starter, that didnt do it, change the seliniod that didnt do it. so then i took the battery cables off and gave them a good cleaning. started right up. stupid me, should of tryed that first

oh well my starter was going bad any.

 

voltage regulator...... little square box beside of the solenoid neat the battery

 

Like Dave says, don't throw parts at it without checking the condition of the old parts first. Clean all the electrical connections including the grounds.

 

ya ill deffinitly remember that next time.

 

here it is...
a bad batt. can kill an alt. and or reg.
a bad reg. can kill a batt. and or alt.
a bad alt. can kill a batt. and or reg.
after all this is straightened out, you could have a bad starter/solenoid.

note: a good way to fry an alt. is to try to charge a dead batt. with it...

so when you start throwing new parts at it, they can be killed by the... bad part.
i suggest taking it to a place that can check the complete system at once.

...Frank...:Handshake

 

Frank's on IT...agree big time.

 

Instead of taking it someplace, why not just spend a little time and check it out yourself. It only takes a volt meter (multimeter set on volts) an a little time.

 

"Instead of taking it someplace, why not just spend a little time and check it out yourself. It only takes a volt meter (multimeter set on volts) an a little time."

did it at home
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ok here we go....i only replaced the battery BECUASE the altenator was killing it so i did fix the problem of having it not start

the old altenator killed my battery

i have 3 batteries
1st one (original) died and i thought it was old (but that altenator killed it)
2nd battery kind of died (altenator was trying to kill it) and this is when i found out it WAS the altenator so i fixed that)
3rd battery is running good (its just that my oil, volts, and temp guages dont light up)

i didnt build the car so im gona bring it to the guy that did(the mechanic)

ill tell you guys what happens this weekend

 

I had a (shhh) plymouth tc3 one time that keep having a dead battery every few days. I had the alt, checked had the battery checked, voltage reg all good. Turned out a small wire had worked loose and was rubed down to bare wire by the pully and making contact and draining the battery when the car was sitting.

 

I had a '62 Galaxie that had a bad brake light switch that will run the battery down. I found this by accident when I touched the switch...it was HOT!!

 

its funny i manage an auto parts store and you wouldn't believe how difficult it can be to try and help people spend less money. you suggest to them that before replacing parts its a good idea to check the system... alot of times they know whats wrong by a battery and a day later there buying an alt. or reg or new cable ends. i always try and get them to let me check there charging and starting system but its like pulling teeth. i guess they think were trying to sell them something.

 

heres an update on my maverick adventure...water pump is leaking

gota get it fixed!