Battery trouble

[Rodney Bullock]

I have had a situation with my battery however I don't know what it is, At first I thouight I needed a voltage reg. however yesterday I was going to drive my Plymouth and tried to start it and the battery was totally dead. I hooked the battery charger up to the battery for 4 min. and he battery came back up and started the car right up. This can't be the voltage reg. I think the battery has a dead cell. what do you all think? A voltage reg. I thought regulates the charging while the car is running.

[PatS....]

But if the voltage regulator isn't charging the battery fully, you are running on the battery while driving.

Next time you go to start it, there will be nothing.

The car will still start with a boost.

Check the "water" level in the battery. If it's low, then there is no place for the "charge" to be stored.

If low, top up with distilled water.

[Alexander]

First try to isolate the generator being the problem.

What does your Ampere meter show when the car is running?

When you throttle the engine, the amp meter should move towards the positive side. If that happens then you know that your generator is probably OK.

If the generator checks out to be OK, then it’s probably a bad battery or bad volt regulator.

If the amp meter always shows positive when driving (meaning a charge) then its likely you have a bad battery.

Hope that gives you some direction.

[Guest Nile Limbaugh]

I've found that 99 times out of a hundred, the symptoms you describe point to a cell that's on it's way out. If the battery is over 3 years old it's probably suspect. I've had batteries of equal value die both early and late: less than 3 years and more than 5! Quality control?

[Tim Frank]

From the check the simple stuff first department, I have had the same symptoms just caused by less than perfect battery terminal connections. When you say the battery was dead, did you try the headlights, or just try the starter? Simple test is to turn on lights and then try the starter. If the lights dim right out, it is the battery, if the lights stay bright, clean and tighten battery connection. (this of course assumes that there is no starter issue)

As far as ultimate battery condition, any competent battery shop can load-test the battery and tell you exactly what is going on with it.

[Normspeed]

Rodney, if your car is wired similar to my 53, everything including the starter solenoid runs through the ammeter. Mine was doing something similar and I found that while working under the dash, I had pushed some wires around and loosened one of the main wires at the ammeter. It sometimes acted like a totally dead battery, would not even click. I found the loose wire and that cured it permanently.

[Rodney Bullock]

I pulled the battery today and took it in to my battery guy. The battery always bled from the top at one of the little white tops. The side of the battery was bloated outward. They tested it and found it was low, however it was down and would not start the car this morning. The battery guy told me that the battery was 3 years old. I fon't drive the car often so that could have aided to it's dimise.I also had them make me another cable because the one I have was slightly short (it may have shorted aganist the metal) So tomorrow morning I will go and install evrything. I am riding torrow even if I have to go solar! Thanks everyone.