electrical nightmare

[brichardson7]

Is it possible that the starter solenoid would cause an alternator to not charge? I've been through 3 alternaters and I've ever had them tested before I tok them home. All good. New battery and all. The truck won't charge. It'll start but once you shut it down, it won't start right away. It either needs to be jumped, or if you give it a day, it'll start again. A list of what I've replaced, ...battery, alternater, voltage regulater and the box on the drivers fender. Was suggested that there are fusible links in the starter solenoid that may be worn. Anything will help. I miss diving my baby.

 

[Broncobill78]

I don't see *cables* anywhere in the list of things you've replaced. Are you CERTAIN they're good ? I've seen green corroded wires under healthy looking insulation when the insulation had managed to pull away from the connector a bit & allowed in water & salt. To answer the question, no the solenoid shouldn't cause that, but hey it's a $9 part & you've replaced almost everything else so why not do it just for the piece of mind. But really, how old are the cables ? I'd also ck on the condition of your ground. I just posted the fusable link location in your other thread but still don't think that's the issue, when a link blows you usually lose everything downstream of it, not just some stuff. Have you resolved the other electrical problems and now you're dealing with this as well or was this charging issue also a part of the original electrical problem? If you're still missing most of your electrics then I'd again suggest taking a look at the harness & connectors

 

[Seabronc]

Ditto on Broncobill78's comment, check all you r cables and connections in the battery circuit. An easy way to see if you have a bad ground to scrape a clean spot on the engine block and check between that and the battery negative post. If you are getting a voltage reading, the ground is bad. could be the connections to the cable itself. You need a good ground to allow the battery to charge. Also the starter solinoid is mounted on the fender. The pick coil for the solinoid is grounded to the fender so if you don't have a good ground to the fender, it will either not operate or will be flaky, and that goes for the alternator also, it will work poorly or not at all if the ground from the alternator case to the battery negative is bad. Bad grounds are probably the major cause of flaky problems. Also check the condition of the positive cables, alternator to battery, battery to solinoid and solinoid to starter. Speaking of starter, sit grounds through it's case also, so that is another place to check. It wouldn't hurt to go through all ground connections by removing, cleaning the connection and checking the wire and connector. That may seem like a lot of work, but in the long run you will have less problems. I'd do the same for the (+) connection from battery to starter.

As for fusible links, the only one that would prevent battery charging is the one on the end of the cable from the alternator to the battery, (usually attached to the battery side of the starter solinoid).

Good luck,

>-

 

[gibs0n06]

ok had this prob on my first truck and current bronco the volatege reg needs to be changed if its external it can cause a discharge too