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Over charging

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Old Feb 23, 2011 | 07:55 PM
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From: Davie County NC
Over charging

So my truck is puttin out over 16 volts idling and my battery is burning up. I put a voltage regulator on it and it didnt help. I dont want to throw parts at this and im def not electrically savvy.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
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Old Feb 23, 2011 | 08:14 PM
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From: Land of milk and honey.
check the green field wire carefully. If this wire is shorting to ground somewhere along its length (e.g insulation has rubbed through on the cab) it will full-field the alternator, meaning the alternator will put out the maximum voltage it is capable of producing, hence, overcharging.
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Old Feb 23, 2011 | 08:44 PM
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Any special location?
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Old Feb 24, 2011 | 01:12 PM
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I have also heard of a loose connection at the volt gauge causing over charging and when my truck is idling the gauge is steady but when i turn on the blinker or anything else u can watch move and flicker. Worth tearing out the dash?
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Old Feb 24, 2011 | 01:27 PM
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Take away it's credit card!

I second the loose connection idea.
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Old Feb 24, 2011 | 01:45 PM
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I have looked and looked, thread after thread and havent found anybody who came up with a conclusion for the problem.

My time to shine! hahaa
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Old Feb 24, 2011 | 05:21 PM
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Swap out the battery from something else and see how it acts.
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Old Feb 24, 2011 | 05:36 PM
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Battery isnt but 2 months old, all cells are full
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Old Feb 24, 2011 | 06:19 PM
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The biggest reason for these rigs overcharging is the bulkhead connector (the big connector by the steering column on the firewall). over time the resistance builds up at the connection and they usually generate enough heat to melt the connector. take that connector apart and just look at the main feed, I bet its fried. The easy fix is to just hardwire it through the firewall. I put a relay next to my regulator with power directly from the battery. rock steady voltage all the time now!
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Old Feb 24, 2011 | 06:54 PM
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Any pics, im a little confused on what you are talkin about
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Old Feb 25, 2011 | 06:22 AM
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Originally Posted by 12valvin
Battery isnt but 2 months old, all cells are full
Back when I was doing alternator rebuilds I encounterd a situation with a week old Sears Diehard battery that had an internal short which caused the alternator to overheat due to the load that the battery was putting on the system. After 2 warranty repairs I swapped in a temporary battery and the problem was nowhere to be found. There was a defective partially shorted cell in a brand new battery. We replaced the battery with a MotoCraft battery and no more problems with the repair for as long as the fellow owned the truck. I have also seen brand new regulators that were out of wack but they were extremely rare occasions. New does not always mean that they are perfect. That's why you get a warranty.
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Old Feb 25, 2011 | 07:43 PM
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Originally Posted by 12valvin
Any pics, im a little confused on what you are talkin about
I Sorry, cannot post pics right now. It is where all the main wiring goes through the firewall, it should have a single bolt through the center that holds it together, it is right next to the steering column. the bolt is on the engine compartment side.
The Relay was supposed to be a band aid as I was on the road when it started overcharging. It works so well, I just left it. I ran battery votage to the relay, and it energizes when the key is turned on.
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Old Feb 25, 2011 | 09:14 PM
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Well today I put an alt on for kicks, cranked the truck up and it was puttin out a healthy 14.+ volts.........problem solved right, wrong. Went back in the shop to finish up some work and when i left it would intermittently over charge and sometimes not. Gotta be somethin so ima keep looking
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Old Mar 10, 2011 | 08:34 PM
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I'm having the exact same issue on my 06 mega. Fried the passenger side battery and melted the terminal connector (major heat) with two new Sears P2 Platinums. Took them both in and the fried one still had some charge and the other was totally drained. They put them on the charger and they both showed green lights and held charge. I did warranty the burnt one, but I'm hoping it wasn't the other battery that was bad and overcharged the fried one. The guy said their "microwave" machine was broke that measures for bad cells. So, I'm taking the truck in tomorrow to test the alternator and for a drain (elec. leak) on the system. Hope I find something, but I thinking I will try and warranty the other battery as well since they can't test it properly.
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Old Mar 12, 2011 | 06:59 AM
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try a new volt regulator. I went throught this just a few months ago. under charging changed regulator still under charging changed alt. now overcharging and boiling over my brand new batt. I chaased wires for days and finely too the new regulator off and took it back to exchange. turns out the regulator was bad off the shelf! second regulator fixed everything.
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