Alternator light / Power steering whine / Belt noise

[stamp11127]

2004XLT check your email.

 

[2004XLT]

Attached some pictures of the wires coming off the battery. Don't look too good to me, possible cause of the issue?

 

[stamp11127]

That can be a source of the problem. I would straighten that mess out and do a voltage drop test on both the pos and neg sides of the charging circuit.

 

[2004XLT]

Should I replace all wiring to the positive terminal as well as the connector? Also would I need to look for wires specific to this car or could I just buy the correct gauge? Thanks for all the help

 

[stamp11127]

Check with the vendors on the site to see if they offer battery cables. The cable shouldnt have any exposed copper showing like your current cables do. Where they connect needs to be cleaned so that it is metal to metal contact. Basically all electrical connections need to be clean before finding the problem. That way if you need to take dmm readings they will be accurate.

 

[IMINYOURCHAIR]

what is that third wire on the posi terminal, also, that battery looks like the wrong group size

 

[2004XLT]

Will do stamp, maybe for the time being I'll just cut back the wires, strip and use new connectors. Can I clean the battery terminals with steel wool?

The wires off the positive lead go to the alt, thru the firewall to the fuse box (I think) and down near the belt tensioner.

If this battery is the wrong size, would that be a possible cause of the dash light?

 

[stamp11127]

Yes you can use steel wool to clean the parts. A battery post cleaning tool works the best though.
Wrong battery size isn't the cause of the battery light. The alternator doesn't know what size battery is connected to the system.

Have you read what I sent to you?

 

[2004XLT]

Thanks for sending that pdf stanp, it was very informative. I planned on cutting back the wires, re strip and add ring connectors however they are already as short as they could possibly be to reach the battery. Now I know why there is such a small battery, if I had the correct group 65 the wires wouldn't reach. I did clean the terminals with steel wool. I guess the next step is to replace the wiring.

 

[Doctor Dirt]

Stamp - hi there - just joined to figgure out charging problem with my 97 5.4 XLT. Batt light flickers and dash guage slowly drops from mid to 10 or so before it stumbles. VOM across battery shows not altentor output. Idler and belt look fine. I may have missed something, but i chased all wires and fuses that I could find before pulling alt and taking it to napa for bench test. . Passed all 3 tests. Then ran over to O'Reilly for grins. Ran test twice and passed again. What next? Keep searching all the clandestine wires and fuses for some sign of failure?