I want everyone's suggestions on helping me find the source of a charging problem with 97 DI. I have two DMM as my only electrical trouble shooting tools.

Things to check:

1. Battery
2. Alternator (is new)
3. Belt Routing (Thanks Spike)
4. After market equipment (does have an aftermarket radio)

What else to look for and how do I test for them?

Thanks

 

usually what I will do is with the key off, I will disconnect the positive lead from the battery and put in a test light (or my meter) between the cable and the terminal. this will usually tell me if there is a drain with the key off. if the test light is pretty dim it will be a relatively slow drain, if the light is almost not visible I would start looking for another problem, and if the light fires up like a stadium it is usually a pretty good short. then I would reconnect the cable and start testing between fuses, not all of the fuses are connected to the battery with constant power, but I will usually test them all anyways (better safe than sorry). Remove the fuse and place the test light or DMM inline where the fuse was. If the drain is in a fused circuit this will narrow it down to which circuit it is on. This may not be the "proper" or best way to do this but it has always worked pretty well for me, and I have had my fair share of shorts to track down!

 

considering the truck has an aftermarket radio all related fuses to the audio system is where I would check first. I can think of a few cars I have had to fix where the installer wired either the power antenna (for an amplified antenna like our trucks have) or the power amp to a constant source causing one of those 2 items to be powered at all times, this may not cause a strong draw (depending on the amplifier) but it may be enough to cause problems if the vehicle is not started on a daily basis.

 

Using an OHM meter, pull one fuse at a time, starting with all the engine compartment fuses, until the draw goes away, then work thru that circuit to find a short, bad switch, ground issue or whatever.

 

i really appreciate everyone's feed back. it turned out to be a bad diode in the "rebuilt" alternator by the local shop. Once I removed the alternator cable, the draw was gone.

thanks!