Battery light on, give it gas and no go.

[Silver X]

Driving home from work and my truck started running rough (accelerated from the stop light and it wouldn't hardly go). During this time my battery light came on and my gauge read 0 on amps. Got home and shut it down and it would not start back up (battery was dead). Took the battery to advance and it wouldn't even test. Put a new battery in and it fired right up. Came out the next morning and started it up, no prob. Then the battery light came back on. When the battery light is on the truck won't accelerate and just backfires. If the battery light stays off, the truck runs fine.

Any ideas?

 

[SkyJumper]

Did you have them test your alternator? Does no good to replace battery if the alternator is not replacing what your demand is. And the battery being dead or close to it could cause electrical issues because of supply vs demand. Especially when every thing is electrical to maintain engine performance.

 

[Silver X]

No I did not. Been driving it for about 3 days though. If it was the alternator by battery would prob be dead by now I think. Might be wrong though. I will get it tested tomorrow.

 

[Thermo]

SilverX, one of the oddities of our trucks is that the alternator will show a very characteristic effect when it starts to go. What you need to do is to do a harder than normal acceleration where you get the engine RPMs up to around 4,000 RPM or so (above 3,500) when the battery light is off. When you get the engine RPMs up around 4,000, the battery light will come on. This is a sign that your alternator is starting to die and you need a new alternator.

 

[jrjr]

I had a vehicle years ago that had similar symptoms and the + battery cable was shorting to the frame as the engine rocked from torque. Just a thought.

 

[Silver X]

Thnx for making me reconsider the alternator. Googled how to test it and thats what it was. New alternator in and back on the road. Thnx again!!