I have a 1998 Ford Expedition the battery was dead so I replaced it then the altenater was bad. The battery gauge in instrument panel isn't reading and the battery seems to loosing charge had new altenater tested at auto zone it's good what can be causing this to happen..

70

Asked by bsblack1 Nov 16, 2014 at 10:24 PM

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

1998 Ford Expedition  dead battery   "New altenater & new battery". Had tested
everything tests good. Need to figure out cause of battery draining when sits over a few
hours.

7 Answers

70

Will check into that... Thanks for the advice. Will update findings if any. TY!

1 people found this helpful.
1,320

If your Expedition goes completely dead, to the point in which you lose the memory of radio presets, you likely have a dead short. I would change your battery cables, replace the negative on first. I have had this occur to my own Ford vehicle and have found this to be the problem a time or two on some of my friend's Ford vehicles. Good Luck.

70

Turns out the refurbished alternators I was getting were defective. I bought a "new" alternator and it ran fine, gauge read the appropriate voltage everything was good. Then out of the blue the voltage gauge dropped back down and the alternator stopped charging. It's not draining my battery anymore so it's not parasitic drain. If I let it cool down it will go back to normal until it heats up. Any ideas?

70

The truck just did it again. The battery's almost completely dead, for some strange reason the alternators not charging the battery. What exactly does the alternator need to generate current?

3 people found this helpful.
70

What does the green wire with the maroon stipe coming from the alternator do? I read that it controls when the alternator engages and if i jump it that the alternator will turn on. Sure enough when i jumped it everything started working fine.

2 people found this helpful.
70

Yea i believe the ecm controls it, i unbolted the plug that goes to the ecm and reseated it and so far everythings good. I hope that fixed it but seems too simple to be it.

1 people found this helpful.

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