Battery keeps gettin Drained!!!!! 68 ford f250

[Johnnys147]

hey their im johnny im 17 and i got a 68 ford f250 camper special it was running fine when i bought it then shortly after the battery kept dying. so the battery keeps getting drained and i tested the old alternator and it was bad so got a brand new one and i got new battery and the regulator was bad as well so i got a new one. but it still keeps getting drained! im going crazy i have gone through three batterys in the past three weeks some of the wires to the alternator may not be in the best of shape i can see the copper so could that be a potential problem? also i got a new stero installed not to long ago could it be draining battery? please Help!!!

[heep70]

You probably have a short somewhere. Did you try lifting the possitive cable off the battery and seeing if there is a spark? Did the new charging system test fine after installation? I would for sure get them bare wires fixed.

to the site.

[SteveC]

the ignition switch is also knowen on some years to short internally and cause the battery to drain.

one thing to do is unhook the power to the radio after the truck has a full charge and see if the battery drains, and if it still drains make sure the truck has a full charge unplug the ignition switch see if the drain went away.

Though it wouldnt hurt to repair or replace the wire that is showing copper

If i lead ya astray someone will correct me

[Johnnys147]

no i havent tried lifting the positive cable off should i do that when its running or when its off? i havent got the charging system tested i think im gonna do that today but it started right up this morning and it will probbly die some time later in the day

[kaptnkaos]

Hey Johnnys147,

WElcome to FORDififcation, the best Ford truck site on the web.
Yeah, burnt or missing insulation is not good at all.
While it might not be the cause of your problem, it can't help.
Somewhere you have a direct short that's causing the battery to drain.
Sometime a ignition switch might short out and drain the battery
Your gonna need to start checking wires. I'd start with the wires that connect to the battery and starter cylinoid.
Hmmm I wonder if the cylinoid itself has shorted out.
Thunderfoot is sorta our electrical guru... shoot him a PM and see what he thinks...
By the way
'68's ROCK!!!

KaptnKA S

[fordman]

make sure all the connections are clean. have the charging system checked by the parts store. they should be able to check it on the truck. if they say its a short or some radio wiring problem then take a test light. hook one end to the negative battery cable while it is off of the battery. and touch the negative side of the battery with the other end of the test light. make sur everythin is turned off radio dome light ignition. if the light comes on then you have a short. to find the short. remove one fuse at a time. to determine which fuse circut to look for the short in. if the first fuse isnt the short put it back in and try the second one and so forth.

[Thunderfoot]

Welcome to the site!

Just to clarify your problem… Does the battery drain with the truck not running (battery goes dead after a few days of sitting) or does it go dead after driving it for a while (alternator not acting like it is charging)???

If it acts like the alternator is not charging then those burnt looking wires to the alternator could be your problem. The main charge wire from the alternator my have burnt in two and / or burnt the fusible link so the alternator power is not getting to the battery… Take a test light or volt meter, and with the engine off, check to see if you have voltage on the “BAT” terminal on the alternator. If that is good then we'll work on checking the other wires...

If it is draining the battery just sitting, then start with what Fordman said above.

[bumpside]

I agree with everything said. I only have a question. Did this start after your new radio was put in, or before?

[Johnnys147]

thank you all for your input i have learned a lot and it seems that some of the wires connected to the alternator were messed up i paid a mechanic 60 bux to fix it PROBLEM SOLVED !!!!!! YAY THANK YOU AGAIN

[lloyd70cs]

Hi everyone.getting something similar to the above issue. Thought I'd renew this thread so all answers are in one place. I have the test light lighting up when I touch any part of the alt, housing or batt terminal, whatever. Does that mean its not properly grounded. The engine is off when I checked and both positive and negative connected to battery.

[lloyd70cs]

It's a new alt and new voltage regulator on the truck.