Hey 3rd gen fans...well the snow has started to fall, so time to get back to work on the old 83Z...went out to start her up last night to pull into the garage, and the battery was DEAD...nothing at all...hooked up the charger, and after a while pulled enough amps to crank...with a littel help from the starter snuff, she rored to life once more...Guage reads fine on charging, but I let it run for 20 min to charge up, and then retsart...NOTHING?

Is it possible to have a al go bad that will allow the engine to run, show charging on the guage, but not actually charge?

Plus the fact that the battery was dead (new in August), measn to me that I have a drain somewhere...

ANY ideas?

83Z 305-5-speed...

All comments and suggestions welcome...

From snowy PA...

Jimbo Jones

 

No it is not really possible.

If the gauge reads good (like higher than the middle), then the alt is working; assuming of course that the gauge is OK. You can measure the voltage between the alt's big terminal and the case to make sure. Should be around 14.2 volts or thereabouts when running.

Check your battery connections and make sure they're tight. If they're loose, there may be enough resistance to keep charging current from being able to flow into it.

Some sort of parasitic drain is always a possibility; could be anything like the under-hood ligh staying on, stereo equipment, etc. etc.

Sounds like whatever it is, it killed the battery. You should naturally find it. Or, as a band-aid until you do, disconnect the battery when you park it.

 

How long was it since it was last started?

 

I rebuilt the top end completely in August, new heads, t/c, dist, cam , lifters, battery, starter, wires...

I never REALLY got everything working well again, and simply ran out of time. Started it last about 3 weeks ago...set the timing, and I still have a miss somewhere...now this?

The only thing that happened...after the rebuild, I burned the positive battery cable through on the AIR pipes, and it shorted out the starter...replaced that and the battery to be sure...plus the cable of course..

Runs fine at idle, and will run all afternoon sitting there, but when I take it around the corner for a quick run, it stalls when I come to a stop...wait 5 minutes and I can restart it...before that, the engine seems to be "locked" Real slow crank

Temp never gets high?

Not sure if ANY of this is related...just figured I would put it out there...

Let it snow...let it snow...let it snow...

JJ