1028-simultaneous dead batt and voltage gauge

[HoosierDaddy]

History - Zero electrical gremlins over past 2 or 3 years I've had the truck.


My main question is, is it a coincidence that my volt gauge died at the same time the battery went dead or could a fault in the gauge be causing a drain. Either way, I know , at a minimum, I have a gauge issue.
Will have time for proper troubleshooting this weekend finally. I was just wondering if this has happened to others.

Here's how it played out.
Had not started truck in 2 or 3 weeks.
Went to start it the other day and noticed the voltage gauge was not working.
Tried to start , no go.
Checked batteries, rear battery was dead, as I recall 8V.
Jumped that battery and truck started right up, voltage gauge still dead, dead battery was receiving 16v charge.
Drove the truck a while, shut if off after I felt the battery should have recharged sufficiently. I was correct, truck started fine a little bit later.

Current plan, get battery charged up and disconnect it and see if it drops on its own or have it tested, maybe see if I can troubleshoot a drain right away .... if it's still good, start looking at the gauge and gauge circuit.
It's single digits out, not really looking forward to too much of this! lol

Thanks for any input.

 

[porkysplace]

First thing you need to do is charge both batteries then load test them .
How old are the batteries ?
16v is high could be a bad regulator causing overcharging , which will kill a battery .
14.5v - 14.7v is where it should be.
There is a ton of information in the stickies , in this thread ;
[h=3]CUCV Helpful Threads[/h]

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

My main question is, is it a coincidence that my volt gauge died at the same time the battery went dead

Could be.

or could a fault in the gauge be causing a drain.

Could be.


Yes, I know, I'm very helpful!

Fix the gauge and see where that takes you. It might be all you need to do, and you need to do it anyway, so....