1987 LX problem... battery drain?

The Mustang Kid · 05-02-2009

Hey all, I finally got my '87 LX running! Ok, now the bad news, it only starts if you jumpstart it first. I've replaced the battery, battery cables, solenoid, and TFI module. I hooked it up to my Oldsmobile on Thursday, drove it around town for 45 minutes, and then went home and shut it down. I came back 3 hours later, and the dang thing was almost dead. The dome light came on, and it cranked over once, then nothing. Is the battery getting drained?

SM90Stanger · 05-02-2009

It sounds like the alternator is dead. Get it checked at an autoshop to make sure but it seems that the battery just isn't charging back up.

If it's a new battery and the alternator is dead, the car should run for a while but then when you shut it down and try to restart it, the battery just won't have enough juice to crank it over. Good Luck man

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acsmustang93 · 05-02-2009

You can test to see if the alternator is charging by getting the car running and checking the DC voltage across the positive and negative posts. It should show somewhere around 14.00+ volts if it is charging because your static voltage with the vehicle off should be no less than 12.45v. This would be 75% of a full charge of 12.65v.

I would check the static voltage and the charging voltage of the alternator and go from there. Hope this helps.

The Mustang Kid · 05-03-2009

Thanks, both of you! This helps alot.

DROPTOP STANG · 05-03-2009

id also check to see if you have metal touching your posative terminal on your battery. metals will also drain your battery. probably more of a longshot than the alternator went out but if this is the problem it would save u about 200 bucks

The Mustang Kid · 05-04-2009

Thanks!
Hey, does anyone know generally how much a reman. alternator would cost? I live in rual Iowa if that helps.

DROPTOP STANG · 05-04-2009

ebay is your best bet. it must suck to be you though living in rural iowa... i thought texas was bad lol.

there is also a online parts thread stickyed in the 2.3 tech section

The Mustang Kid · 05-04-2009

Hey, thanks for all the good suggestions!

I found out it's not the alternator. I checked and there's no metal contact. I started it up and put the multimeter leads on the battery terminals, and it was putting out the recomended 14+ volts that acsmustang92 was talking about so that tells me that's not the problem. So, now I'm back at where I started.