dead jeep

started fine one day. the next dead dead dead. so i roll started it. dorove it to work. abought 10 miles in lights started to dim. so im driving along thinking, new altenater/battery.tear all that stuff out goto AAP. alt tests at 10 volts. so theres my problem. put new alt/batt in everything is fine. tests out at 14 volts i go home. next day dead dead dead. jump it alt still making 14 volts. tought i left somthing on or somting. next day dead,nothing was left on. am i left chasing a short or could some other part be bad that i cont think of?

 

When you say dead, does it crank at all? What year is this Jeep? Does it have a voltmeter? Does the voltmeter read more than 12V when you're having the problem? I had a starter with a bad pole on one of my Jeeps - maybe 1 in 20 times it would not start, and acted like the battery was dead.

It'd help to put your location in your profile, and some info about your Jeep in your sig (year, engine).

hth!

 

sorry,75 cj5 258. not cranking at all. voltmeter reading 14vwhen running. however when left to sit overnight she is dead. no crank,no lights,no tunes,no ride.never had this problem before. the battery is 99% dead after sitting for 8 hours.

 

With the Jeep off pull off the positve battery cable and connect an ammeter betwen the cable and the terminal. You should see something significant if it will go dead in a few hours. Pull fuses one by one, when the meter falls you found your problem. The radio and clock always use tiny amount of power.

 

ok your on to somthing. ill let you know how that turns out.



thanks

 

ok tryed that with no luck. with the jeep off dissconected pos. batt cable tested voltage from pos. batt. post to pos. batt cable. like 13 volts all the time. i pulled all the fuses and the hasserd and turn sig.switch. still 13 volts?




only way i got the voltage to drop was to dissconect the 2 wires that go to the altenater in the little clip that pushes on to the alt

75 cj5 258
thanks i have the day off and would like to get this thing done today.

 

You need to measure current, not voltage. Use the amps function of your meter.

 

pulled all fuses got like 5 amps post to cable. hooked the batt back up before i took out the fuses and my radio and int. lights did not work. dont know if this is a diffirent prob. or might help you help me

 

with all the fuses out i can see a small spark when i reconnect the pos. batt, cable.

 

Don't have any idea about the radio and interior lights.

If all the fuses are out and you still see a current between the battery and positive cable, you have a short somewhere. All you can do is narrow it down by systematically disconnecting stuff, one device at a time. Do you have a wiring diagram?

 

yea. thank for all your help. i want to rewire anyway but i want a fiberglass tub to. then it gets to ss fuel line,paint frame, disc brakes, roll cage.ett no time right now i would like to redo almost everything in the right order but i know i should start with the tub and that wont happen for like a year at best. so i know where im going with this short thing. thanks again for your time.

 

Did you put a NAPA Autoparts reman alternator on it?
If you did it might be bad. Me and my dad both have run into lots of bad remanufactured starters and alternators from napa.

 

disconnect the alternator and check it again. It's possible the new alternator is the problem. I've gotten bad remans from all the suppliers at one time or another. I'd have the battery tested as well. If the battery was weak when the alternator went it could have pushed the battery over to the dark side. Had this happen recently on my black Cherokee and have seen it on other vehicles as well. Nickmil.

 

thanks guys . new batt and a reman alt. i made the guy test the alt to make sure it was good. however you have a good point, i got a bad starter for my 90 yj abought a year ago.