Help! New Alt, New Batt, No start after sitting

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05LSV8GUY

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Hey guys, im a little more frustrated than usual since i dont have a place of my own to work on my car.

First I got the warning, "Not Charging", having read a few threads here i saw that it was more than likely the alternator.
I replaced The Alternator With a Motorcraft from a local auto parts store, that can source motorcraft parts, put in, went to start next morning, nothing just a click. Charged the batt, and started fine. So with this issue i decided to park it till i could afford a new battery, since a load tester showed the battery was bad.
Well Today I installed a new Battery and i just went to start after about 4 hours of sitting and i get the same no start issue, just a click.
I never had this issue till i installed a small amp and subs, yet i removed them when the first not charging issue started.

what else could it be, i broke the original battery post bolt removing the old battery, and replaced with just a bolt and nut, it feels tight and they are really clean.
Is there a fuse or something i missed?
I will add the battery was at 60% and had 12.3 volts when i just put the charger on the car.


Please help, i would rather not have to take my gas guzzling F150 to go to my bros wedding tomorrow.
 
so if a new charger battery that would start the car right after, but did not have enough power to start the car hours later, sounds like you have a draining problem...

something is not shutting off fully when the car is sitting and its draining your battery. if you have aftermarket stuff, start looking there. if not i would check for abnormal current while the car is sleeping, one circuit at a time.
 
Ok, I did test the Alternator output while it was running 14.32V @ The battery.

1LoudLS,
The Amp wiring i installed, is unhooked. The Only other thing that i know thats aftermarket on the car is the headunit.
So I'm not quite sure where this current draw could be coming from, any idea where i start with the circuit testing.
How do u search for current draw? Ive never had a car with electrical issues.
 
It's a complicated process, made much more difficult by the fact that various modules in the car must go to sleep before you test.
I would start with the most recent change. Charge the battery fully up and disconnect the alternator. If the battery is still good several hours later, then your problem is the new alternator. If it still drained down just the same, then will have to get more involved in isolating the various systems in the car. (You may want to consider dealer diagnostics at this point.)
 
I decided to take it to a shop near my work place, called "The Wire Shop" he is gonna take a look at it for me, and luckily he had a cancellation this morning. He's pretty good at what he does so i hope he can track it down, and for not alot of money either.

Edit: Also I forgot to add that the only other aftermarket Pc installed is a remote starter.
 
05LSV8GUY said:
...Also I forgot to add that the only other aftermarket Pc installed is a remote starter.
Click to expand...

That's a big one. They can be the cause of a lot of problems. The installation (on the LS anyway) is complicated, and some installers are better than others.
 
Yeah, i forgot about it till i brought it to the wire shop, and he knew exactly what kind it was, and in the past the remote start has been flawless. If it needs to be removed or replaced thats what will happen. I hope he can find the issue quickly and easily
 
this can be one of the worse things to try to fix, electrical gremlins can be a pain to find, however, if its a big enough drain to kill a good battery dead in only a few hours, then it should be pretty easy to locate.
 
Ok, the wire shop guy, didnt have the time or prior experience to figure out the 45 min rest procedure (atleast thats his excuse)
I drove it, during the daytime on a 1.5 hr drive to my brothers house for the wedding. I parked it in his garage at 3:45pm, and got in it @ 11pm and it fired right up.
I have not driven it since then and have not tried to start it, to damn busy lately.

I purchased an actual Lincoln Wiring diagram book for my car on eBay, once i receive that i will be taking it out to my buddies house, that helped me build My 82 GT, and we will be using the Ford TSB procedure i found online to try and track down where the draw is coming from.

I will then post what we found incase that may help someone in the future.
 
OK, so i see this to be the conclusion to this thread.
Here are the results.

After having driven to my brothers house, roughly an hour and a half away for his wedding, i was amazed the car started 7 hrs later.
well on the 18th I was leaving work, and looked at my lincoln in disgust, because i feared i had a long road of troubleshooting ahead, as i was pulling away from the shop i noticed the security LED on the dash was blinking. So i decided to just give it a shot to see if the car started, and VROOM! it fired right up no slow crank, no nothing, it started like it was 70 and sunny (it wasnt lol).

What i am thinking my slow drain issue (rather what i thought it was) was a malfunctioning battery charger, the reason i say this is because the charger showed the battery at 100% so i didnt charge the battery initially, well i believe the charger failed and the battery was so low after buying it that with the headlights on that night the battery didnt get topped up, after installing the Alt.
The car now starts after sitting a few days with no issues. I also noted the charger i used at our shop lied about another battery that was in one of our super dutys'

I am so happy that the issues i had are hopefully solved as i hate tracking down wiring issues. (i almost considered trading the car off and ive had it less than 6 months lol)
 
05LSV8GUY said:
OK, so i see this to be the conclusion to this thread.
Here are the results.

After having driven to my brothers house, roughly an hour and a half away for his wedding, i was amazed the car started 7 hrs later.
well on the 18th I was leaving work, and looked at my lincoln in disgust, because i feared i had a long road of troubleshooting ahead, as i was pulling away from the shop i noticed the security LED on the dash was blinking. So i decided to just give it a shot to see if the car started, and VROOM! it fired right up no slow crank, no nothing, it started like it was 70 and sunny (it wasnt lol).

What i am thinking my slow drain issue (rather what i thought it was) was a malfunctioning battery charger, the reason i say this is because the charger showed the battery at 100% so i didnt charge the battery initially, well i believe the charger failed and the battery was so low after buying it that with the headlights on that night the battery didnt get topped up, after installing the Alt.
The car now starts after sitting a few days with no issues. I also noted the charger i used at our shop lied about another battery that was in one of our super dutys'

I am so happy that the issues i had are hopefully solved as i hate tracking down wiring issues. (i almost considered trading the car off and ive had it less than 6 months lol)
Click to expand...
haha i hate to say it but give it a few months and you will be thinking the same thing again next time something on it goes wrong. enjoy the time between fixes as it can be a pretty good 'bang for the buck' car, especially in the used entry level luxury market.
 
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