this morning i get into my truck to warm it up and batteries are dead. keep in mind they are only about a month old. put on a charger leave them for a few hours come back start it up let it run for about an hour. turn it off then a couple hours later its dead. jump it so i can drive it and the voltometer will not go over 12. turn truck off and try starting again and it gives me the old tick tick your f-ed. so i go to napa and get a NEW alt. put it in drive home from shop and meter is still down at 12 turn it off again when i get home and no go. what else could this possibly be?

 

I want to say a bad crank position sensor, but Ford does it different. Have NAPA scan for codes.

 

that would drain the batteries like that?

 

Check your fuses first off make sure they are all good mainly the ones under the hood in the main fuse block and then the ones inside. With anything electrical always start with checking the fuses and then go from there. Sounds to me like a fuse prob or relay just of the top of my head. good luck.

 

There is a fuse under the hood that runs the "exciter" on the alt... I have had this happen as well... The alt will not put out the voltage... Check your fuse. Has nothing to do with anything else other then maybe a draw down issue somewhere.

 

would a bad starter cause problems i dont know just another thing to check

 

Not a drain on the battery... would cause start up issues.

 

check over the cable from the alt. to the battery

 

I thought I was haveing charging problems. I replaced the altinator, Batteries, and it turned out to be the starter drawing the batteries down.

PS you won't see any more than 12 volts on the volt meter untill the engin has been running for A few minutes. Then it should jump up to 14 after it warms up for A minute or so. Sounds weared but that is the way they are!

 

i just peeked under the hood in this wonderful snow storm at the fuse box to see whats going on in there and i found a fuse that the plastic was broken off of on the side pulled it out and the fuse broke in half with no force. im hoping that this was the "exciter" fuse which was stated above. 20amp. does anyone know if this is right. my owner manual does not say anything about a fuse for the alt. and its not labeled inside the fuse box cover