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[GMCnet] A little off-topic advice... [message #167195] Sun, 22 April 2012 16:08 Go to previous message
Richard Denney is currently offline  Richard Denney   United States
Messages: 920
Registered: April 2010
Karma:
Senior Member
This is not all that off-topic--I'm trying to get the coach ready for the
trip to Bean Station, and my Toyota T100 pickup is behind it. So, I have to
get the Toyota running before I can go anywhere in the GMC.

For some reason, it's eating batteries. I put in a new Costco battery maybe
18 months ago, and drove it the usual amount (a trip here and there every
few weeks during the summer, and less often in winter unless we get a big
snow dump). A year ago, that battery went doornail dead after being parked
for a few weeks. I jumped the truck, drove to Costco, and they gave me a
new battery, no questions asked. Again, I used the trick occasionally for a
couple of months, and then after a few weeks it was doornail dead again.

Okay, so I have something putting a drain on it, I figure. I removed the
positive cable and put my DVM (in ammeter mode) between the battery and the
terminal clamp. Just at trickle--only a few milliamps. I made this test
after the first battery died, and based on that figure it was just a dud
battery.

This time, since I'm standing in the rain this afternoon (on my only day
off after six days in Seattle, which followed four days in Phoenix, etc.,
etc.), I pulled the battery to haul it into the garage to put it on a
charger. Then, I spent the next hour replacing two fuel hoses and four
vacuum hoses that had been eaten by those...

#)()()_$(*%)(*()$)(@#(*!!!!!!!!....

...mice. The truck now has stainless-braid fuel hose and there is a new
plastic shield over the vacuum hoses. All the damage was in one
area--apparently what the rodents thought was the dinner table. They
removed a section of fuel vent hose a solid three inches long--vanished.

But I find no evidence of wiring having been chewed. And I measured
resistance to ground on the positive terminal, and found the resistance to
start at 3K, climb up to maybe half a megohm, and then dwindle back down to
60K. All of this is in the cable that feeds the fuse block, not the cable
to the starter, which exceeded the resistance range of my Fluke DVM. None
of those resistances would flow enough current to kill a battery in six
months.

So, I'm at a loss as to what is causing the battery to die. The battery was
well-watered, though I did not check it with a hygroscope (which I can't
seem to find), My shop charger (a smart charger of some sort) declared the
battery failed after one charging cycle, but I've found a second cycle
often revives it. After the first cycle, the battery had a surface charge
of 11.5 volts, so I suspect it really is all the way dead.

There were two auxiliary systems on the truck that were wired into the
battery terminal clamp, and that's for an electric trailer brake and
another one for a ham radio. Needless to say, those will not be
re-attached. But they read resistance beyond the scale of my DVM in any
case.

Anybody got any ideas? Things I could check?

Rick "noting that the motorhome batteries are also dead, but after 9 years
was rather expecting that" Denney

--
'73 230 "Jaws"
Northern Virginia
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