Battery Problem???? Start slow..... Help...

[chuzie]

solenoid connections

[broncomatt]

Sorry to catch this so late, the battery sounds like it needs to be replaces. The sparks flying when you tried to jump it off sounds like you may have had the cables wrong.
Advance and autozone both offer free testing of your charging,starting and battery.
The starter relays either work or they dont. Very rarely are they intermitent.
Let us know how it turns out.
Broncomatt

[Mill Knob]

Ok I got a new solenoid and new cable that goes from the starter to the solenoid plus the Battery was full charged. So I took a little drive down the road and stop to get gas and it seems to be ok.

After I put the Battery in the Bronco I check the battery with a volt meter with the Bronco not running the meter showed 12.80 and with the Bronco running it showed 12.64. So what do ya think about. Is that normal?

[JayT]

I would expect that a battery with no load on it to be at 14V then drop to 12V (approx) with a load... Measuring the current while loaded/starting would tell more, but I would expect that they already tested this at the parts store. 12.8 seems low with no load. Can you leave it disconnected over night to make sure that in it still has 12.8 with no load on it tomorrow? It stills screams bad battery to me, but this would confirm it with me.

[Mill Knob]

I would expect that a battery with no load on it to be at 14V then drop to 12V (approx) with a load... Measuring the current while loaded/starting would tell more, but I would expect that they already tested this at the parts store. 12.8 seems low with no load. Can you leave it disconnected over night to make sure that in it still has 12.8 with no load on it tomorrow? It stills screams bad battery to me, but this would confirm it with me.

So what your say is to unhook the battery and see if it drops?

[Mill Knob]

Some thing else that I need to tell yall is, while the Bronco was running I unhook the voltage regulator and the numbers on the volt meter did not change. So then does that mean that the volt regulator is broke?

[JayT]

So what your say is to unhook the battery and see if it drops?

Precisely.. I'm not trusting the results you received from the parts store. Not saying that they are wrong, I'm just not trusting that they are right - yet. If it is stable with the battery being disconnected overnight, then perhaps it could be your regulator, or a drain somewhere else in the electrical. I agree with Matt that the sparks flying is a concern... It may not be the root of your problem, but definitely another symptom...

[Mill Knob]

Drove it to work today and check it when I got there and the battery is now showing 12.20. That tells me that it is not charging...

[Mill Knob]

While at work I had a friend that is the mechanic at the Telephone company that is real good on the old stuff. I had him come out after work and look at my bronco promblem and he agree that it had to be the alternator cause my promblem. So I took the alternator off and took it to get it check and sure enough the alternator was bad. I bought it in July. So I got a brand new one but had it tested first before I left the store. Promblem solved.... The volt meter shows between 13.5 and high 14.'s when the engine is rev d up..

:chili: :wav:

Thanks to everyone that help out....

[berg bronco]

you did get the chrome plated alternator rightcratchhe: