Hi Guys,
OK so I've got a few miles on my m998 now. The front battery was toast, so I replaced that. The truck then did the charging jump between yellow and green for about 2 min while it was warming up then it would be right in the green (just below the white line). You could hear the alternator turn on and off in conjunction with the charging needle jump up and down.
So now a few week's have passed and the needle is almost always in the yellow and I don't hear the alternator turning on and off for the most part. Every once in a while the alternator will turn on and the needle will jump to the green. Then back to yellow while cruising. Even sometimes the needle will drop to the red and bounce between yellow and red (like it bounced between yellow and green) but that is very rare. The needle just keeps to be dropping lower and lower. However the truck fires right up and while running the rear battery (old) is 13.2 and the front (new) is 13.1 (needle in yellow). When the needle is in the green the rear battery is 13.8 and the front is 13.4.
I took the truck into have the batteries load tested. The rear old battery just came back as recharge and test again. The front came back passed but recharge. I put both batteries on the charger for 12 hours and the voltage come up to about 13.2 and they were taking 2amps at start and finished at about 1amp after 12hours. I could not take them in for load the test.
So after a load test I did the hydrometer test on all 12 cells. All were within the recharge range. About 1.25 on average and the fluid was clear. Leads me to belive I don't have a dead cell, but high buildup on the plates (I think!). This test was prior to the 12 hour recharge.
After my confusing essay I'm wondering why the charging system is not in the green anymore and doing the electrical check during warmup is not occurring anymore? Should I replace the back battery? Swap battery positions? Regulator problem.
Thank you all for all your help!
Phil
OK so I've got a few miles on my m998 now. The front battery was toast, so I replaced that. The truck then did the charging jump between yellow and green for about 2 min while it was warming up then it would be right in the green (just below the white line). You could hear the alternator turn on and off in conjunction with the charging needle jump up and down.
So now a few week's have passed and the needle is almost always in the yellow and I don't hear the alternator turning on and off for the most part. Every once in a while the alternator will turn on and the needle will jump to the green. Then back to yellow while cruising. Even sometimes the needle will drop to the red and bounce between yellow and red (like it bounced between yellow and green) but that is very rare. The needle just keeps to be dropping lower and lower. However the truck fires right up and while running the rear battery (old) is 13.2 and the front (new) is 13.1 (needle in yellow). When the needle is in the green the rear battery is 13.8 and the front is 13.4.
I took the truck into have the batteries load tested. The rear old battery just came back as recharge and test again. The front came back passed but recharge. I put both batteries on the charger for 12 hours and the voltage come up to about 13.2 and they were taking 2amps at start and finished at about 1amp after 12hours. I could not take them in for load the test.
So after a load test I did the hydrometer test on all 12 cells. All were within the recharge range. About 1.25 on average and the fluid was clear. Leads me to belive I don't have a dead cell, but high buildup on the plates (I think!). This test was prior to the 12 hour recharge.
After my confusing essay I'm wondering why the charging system is not in the green anymore and doing the electrical check during warmup is not occurring anymore? Should I replace the back battery? Swap battery positions? Regulator problem.
Thank you all for all your help!
Phil
