What fried
#11
05-03-2018 | 03:53 PM
BF Veteran
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,309
From: Florida
If a fully charged battery is dead within minutes and did not explode during what would amount to a near dead short until fully discharged then that battery is defective. It would have severely overheated while discharging hundereds of amps. I suggest that you charge the battery out of the truck and take it to be load tested.
If if I am wrong, the only unprotected cable from the battery is the direct run to the starter so any massive discharge like that would almost certainly blow a fuse unless it happened as a short on the way to the first fuses so I would check those power feed runs. If that's not it then disconnect the power cable to the starter and see if the rapid discharge stops.
my best guess at this point is that the water shorted the unprotected power cable to the starter, maybe internal to the solenoid or starter. This damaged the battery which now discharged very rapidly. You probably need a new battery and need to rule out high parasitic current from the battery with the truck off. Use the old battery right after charging it for that before replacement.
report your findings
george
If if I am wrong, the only unprotected cable from the battery is the direct run to the starter so any massive discharge like that would almost certainly blow a fuse unless it happened as a short on the way to the first fuses so I would check those power feed runs. If that's not it then disconnect the power cable to the starter and see if the rapid discharge stops.
my best guess at this point is that the water shorted the unprotected power cable to the starter, maybe internal to the solenoid or starter. This damaged the battery which now discharged very rapidly. You probably need a new battery and need to rule out high parasitic current from the battery with the truck off. Use the old battery right after charging it for that before replacement.
report your findings
george
#12
05-03-2018 | 07:01 PM
Thread Starter
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New Member
Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 6
If a fully charged battery is dead within minutes and did not explode during what would amount to a near dead short until fully discharged then that battery is defective. It would have severely overheated while discharging hundereds of amps. I suggest that you charge the battery out of the truck and take it to be load tested.
If if I am wrong, the only unprotected cable from the battery is the direct run to the starter so any massive discharge like that would almost certainly blow a fuse unless it happened as a short on the way to the first fuses so I would check those power feed runs. If that's not it then disconnect the power cable to the starter and see if the rapid discharge stops.
my best guess at this point is that the water shorted the unprotected power cable to the starter, maybe internal to the solenoid or starter. This damaged the battery which now discharged very rapidly. You probably need a new battery and need to rule out high parasitic current from the battery with the truck off. Use the old battery right after charging it for that before replacement.
report your findings
george
If if I am wrong, the only unprotected cable from the battery is the direct run to the starter so any massive discharge like that would almost certainly blow a fuse unless it happened as a short on the way to the first fuses so I would check those power feed runs. If that's not it then disconnect the power cable to the starter and see if the rapid discharge stops.
my best guess at this point is that the water shorted the unprotected power cable to the starter, maybe internal to the solenoid or starter. This damaged the battery which now discharged very rapidly. You probably need a new battery and need to rule out high parasitic current from the battery with the truck off. Use the old battery right after charging it for that before replacement.
report your findings
george
#13
05-03-2018 | 08:06 PM
BF Veteran
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,309
From: Florida
What you need to determine is if the battery can maintain voltage with a normal amp draw. A load test determines that. The battery gets charged, you bleed off the surface charge with a moderate short term load, and then a starter type high current load is applied with a massive resistor load box and the voltage is measured during that draw to see if it stays high enough. Then you see how it recovers.
If you have an amp clamp meter see what you get at the two main positive cables from the battery when you attach it.
George
If you have an amp clamp meter see what you get at the two main positive cables from the battery when you attach it.
George
#14
05-05-2018 | 04:42 PM
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 746
From: Poland
If if I am wrong, the only unprotected cable from the battery is the direct run to the starter so any massive discharge like that would almost certainly blow a fuse unless it happened as a short on the way to the first fuses so I would check those power feed runs. If that's not it then disconnect the power cable to the starter and see if the rapid discharge stops.
Seems You're right. Just checked that in my car. And it seems it all has started with a coolant leak from a bottom hose, exactly nearby the starter cable. If it had some problems with an insulation already, it could got welded with a chassis when wet.
How about You disconnect the battery and measure the resistance between positive and a negative clamp?
Or another idea - use a halogen lamp in serial to the positive battery peg and a positive clamp as a short circuit indicator. It should glow when You switch ignition on (but no cranking). If it goes bright - You still have a short circuit. Works pretty well not only in a field of a cars but in electronics in general. You may use it also as a battery recovery indicator after a big load test, if You connect it in parallel to a battery clamps.
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