Just a FREAKING Wonderful Day!!!!!!!!!!!!

The other day the blower fan motor in my '98 Limited decided to work intermitantly at best and behave almost like the commutator and brushes were shot. I went to go on lunch about an hour ago and when I went to use the keyless entry the doors wouldn't unlock. Thought that was odd so I used the key to get in and start it........nothing, not one fawking thing! It would barely click the starter, the doorlocks would barely work to try and unlock the truck and didn't even have the juice to try and lock them, and some of the idiot lights would barely work. When I left for work and made a couple stops on the way here it started and drove fine after all three off/on cycles, then nothing 4 hours later. Dad just stopped by the store to take a look at it and the battery is even more dead now than it had been an hour ago! He's is taking it home to try and charge it some before I'm done closing the store for the night in hopes that it'll work. He's thinking the alternator decided to take a crap on it and drain the battery. Is there any possibility that this could have hurt the computer too?

Re: Just a FAWKING Wonderful Day!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you judging the battery's deadness on what lights come on or off, or off a voltage reading from a meter? The computer should be OK - they can handle power outages, usually. If the alternator went out, it would have had the battery light on when you were driving it earlier. Plus, it would not drain the battery when nothing was going on (parked outside). Did you discover anything that was left on that may have helped drain it? A couple of possibilities for me would be you either have something that is stuck on and draining, or you have a bad connection to the battery on either side (positive or negative). Terminals will build up some gunk over time, and it can produce enough resistance to render your amps helpless. In that situation, it will behave a lot like a dead battery.
Anyway - get it started and hook up a meter to the battery right on the terminals. If it is around 14.4V while running, the alternator is fine.

Re: Just a FAWKING Wonderful Day!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have had this same problems a few times. I still am not 100% sure what it is because after awhile of fiddleing in the engine compartment everything works fine again. I am almost certin though that it is a bad ground. Sorry for your luck and hope you get it figured out,

Re: Just a FAWKING Wonderful Day!!!!!!!!!!!!

Didn't notice anything "funny" today until I went to take my lunch and so far as I could tell, nothing was left running. I did forget to look at the underhood light though, last time this nearly happened, that was the culprit. It had come off the bracket and with it sitting at a funny angle the light came on and stayed on until I found that had happened.

Re: Just a FAWKING Wonderful Day!!!!!!!!!!!!

frontman said:

I have had this same problems a few times. I still am not 100% sure what it is because after awhile of fiddleing in the engine compartment everything works fine again. I am almost certin though that it is a bad ground. Sorry for your luck and hope you get it figured out,

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Thanks, between this and being told that I was refused independant health insurance coverage because of my weight....this day has been nothing but pure crap.....never should have drug my fat ass outta bed:soapbox::flamemad:

Re: Just a FAWKING Wonderful Day!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is one of those 'back-to-basics" moments.

Charge the battery overnight (minimum) or for 24 hours (best).

While the battery is charging clean the bat. cables, both ends, and test their resistance with an ohm meter, then check and renew all the grounds.

Now that the battery is fully charged, have it load tested.

Fully charged battery, load test passed, cables cleaned and tested for resistance, hook up the battery and read the static voltage, should be around 12v. Start the engine and measure the voltage at the battery, should be about 14.5v, if not, drive to a parts store and have them check the alternator.

Once you know the battery is good and charged, and the alternator is functioning correctly, then your problem may be solved. To check for a "draw" that could be discharging your battery disconnect the negative cable and put a 12v test light in series. With the key OFF, doors closed, and the under hood light disabled, there shouldn't be much of a draw, and the light should be DIM if lit at all. If the light is on BRIGHT there is too much of a draw and you have to isolate the individual circuit and take steps to fix the problem.

Good luck.

And I get my medical through the VA, otherwise they wouldn't cover my fat A** either.

clean and/or replace the terminals while you're at it

I was thinking that possibly the bad HVAC blower motor might have caused something to "stick" on even after you turned the vehicle off, hence draining your battery. But they didn't use any relays or anything for the HVAC blower motor...should have though. Attributing to many melted HVAC blower motor switch failures (melting!)

Looks like I'm the problem, not anything on the truck:dunce:
Dad charged and then brought the battery that was in my Sister's old Brairwood to stick in my truck and as soon as he hooked the battery up all five of the interior lights came on:doh::twak: Don't remember turning them on though, could have been that I've been pretty hacked off about the whole insurance thing all day and didn't realize that I'd done it, but that's all I can think of:dunno: Since the battery is 5 years old, we're thinking it may not be a bad idea to get a new one before winter.

bjoehandley said:

Dad charged and then brought the battery that was in my Sister's old Brairwood to stick in my truck and as soon as he hooked the battery up all five of the interior lights came .

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Aren't Dad's great? :cheers:

Yup, family always helps eachother with us.

Blaine B. said:

I was thinking that possibly the bad HVAC blower motor might have caused something to "stick" on even after you turned the vehicle off, hence draining your battery. But they didn't use any relays or anything for the HVAC blower motor...should have though. Attributing to many melted HVAC blower motor switch failures (melting!)

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No one uses blower motor relays. I'm not sure on these jeeps, but on most vehicles, the variable resistor determines voltage output, which determines fan speed. The variable resistor is normally located on the HVAC control center, which your knob is connected to.

If it could be wired with relays (remote mounted variable resistor), you would need 4 extra relays, which would equate to 4 more possible sites of failure.

To the OP- Listen to Joe Peters advise. Yell at us if that doesn't solve it.

I had to go without medical coverage for nearly a year. It is one way to teach you what you can and cannot do, and how much of a daredevil you really are when you know you are covered :looney:

Haven't had any problems with the truck since then, battery seems to be working ok, but I still need to replace it, just haven't had the time. Anybody know what the average cost on a Optima Yellow Top should be?

What sucks about the insurance is that my weight was the only problem, I don't drink, smoke, use illicit drugs (in all honest, nothing stronger that caffine and IB Profin) and my three most dangerous hobbies are driving in the Chicago area, lifting weights, and following my RC Rock Cralwers over jagged rocks on occasion.

I went without medical coverage on myself for eight years, 1996-2004, but kept coverage on the Wife. In 2004 I got real sick and couldn't work, and our income dropped low enough that I could qualify for VA medical. That literally saved my life.

I've talked to two different people in the insurance racket, one is my auto insurance agent and another is a customer that used to work for a competing company, both have been told the same thing reguarding my weight by everybody they have talked to., although the customer guessed my weight at about 100lbs less than I actually weigh Hell, if I were able to drop down to 280, I might look like a football player or wrestler:wow:

I went without insurance for a few months between jobs, here in this wonderful people's republic of massachusetts you pretty much get fined for not having health insurance. I forget if I claimed religious objection to the concept on my tax docs or simply hand-waved and gave them the 1099HC form that covered the part of the year I *did* have insurance for.

this is not the gap in coverage you are looking for... you can move along now

I've got gap coverage right now, but that's only good for another month.

If you are thinking yellow top may I suggest the $190 Sears DieHard Platinum battery. I think 65 is the size you want. You may have to cut off one lip of the battery tray to fit on the bottom and use something (I used scrap piece of 1/2" pvc pipe) as a spacer between the battery and top bracket.

It has a 4 year replacement 100 month pro-rate warranty, which you don't get with the yellow top, plus it's a better quality battery.

bjoehandley said:

I've talked to two different people in the insurance racket, one is my auto insurance agent and another is a customer that used to work for a competing company, both have been told the same thing reguarding my weight by everybody they have talked to., although the customer guessed my weight at about 100lbs less than I actually weigh Hell, if I were able to drop down to 280, I might look like a football player or wrestler:wow:

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As a big guy myself, I'd like to encourage you to use your adrenaline to inspire yourself to improve your health. The older you get, the harder it is to get it under control. It's a battle I still fight into senior citizenship.:cheers::soapbox:hasta

lilredwagn said:

If you are thinking yellow top may I suggest the $190 Sears DieHard Platinum battery. I think 65 is the size you want. You may have to cut off one lip of the battery tray to fit on the bottom and use something (I used scrap piece of 1/2" pvc pipe) as a spacer between the battery and top bracket.

It has a 4 year replacement 100 month pro-rate warranty, which you don't get with the yellow top, plus it's a better quality battery.

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Thanks, there's a Sears across from work, I'll look into those!

winterbeater said:

As a big guy myself, I'd like to encourage you to use your adrenaline to inspire yourself to improve your health. The older you get, the harder it is to get it under control. It's a battle I still fight into senior citizenship.:cheers::soapbox:hasta

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Thanks, I've pushed my self pretty hard over the last couple years, but have mainly gained weight instead of loosing it. I'm going to give it another go starting Monday and trying to keep what weight I can do leg and back wise where it currently sits and add some more cardio than I usually do (work, aforementioned said crawlers around, ect.), while pushing chest, shoulders, and arms futher. I hate using machines like tread mills and such, but the weather has sucked big time here and my work schedual and nightowl/late sleeper tendancies can get in the way of things when laziness doesn't:twak:

Another forum I go on has started a Biggest Loser for the forum members and I signed into that yesterday. I've had an account over at bodybuilding.com, but have rarely used it, might have to look into that too.