Dead Battery

[Brook]

Ok, I bought a multimeter and checked out the battery. It's the first time I ever used one. So here goes.

With the truck off and the keys out I put the multimeter on 20v DC and the reading was 11.99. That's good, right?
A while ago the glove box pin broke off and I still haven't gotten around to fixing it. The glove box was slightly ajar on the side where the switch is. I closed the box tight. It didn't seem open enough to have the light on and the area wasn't any hotter then the rest of the glove box. Yesterday I charged the battery, started the truck and didn't drive it just ran it at idle for about 10 min. It still started right up today.
The alternator was checked about 2 mo ago and they said it was ok. How would I know if it is draining the battery? I'm gonna disconnect it like was suggested and see what happens.

Thanks,
Brook

[Case 7230]

Good. First off with key off a fully charged battery should read about 12.5V. With engine running you should get in excess of 13V across the terminals. However it sounds like the glovebox light was on so that would account for the battery going flat while the truck was not in use.

[leolkfrm]

Pull the bulb out of the glove box to eliminate it as the problem

[Brook]

I took the glove box out and remove the bulb a little while ago. I hope that works. I'm going to epoxy that glove box door pin tomorrow anyway. I should have done it sooner.
Now I'm just hoping that it was the glove box bulb and not something else.

I appreciate the advice.

[heavychevy85]

hey no problem hope we all had great suggestions for you and i hope you find out what the problem is we sure would like to know so we can use this post as a future reference hope every thing works out ok

[silverhairdeere]

did that fix it , if not charge up your battery and then unplug your alternator ,a good charging one can still have a open voltage regulator causing the drain (mine was)

silver hair deere

[Brook]

So far, so good.
I took the bulb out and epoxied the pin.
The first day I drove it the service engine light came on. I think maybe the computer had to reset. I've driven it since and there is no service engine light on and no problems. Hopefully the glove box light was the problem. I'm definitely going to keep the voltage regulator in mind if I have any more problems.

Thanks,
Brook

[gmctrucks]

Brook that pin is super cheap at the dealership I had both my door pins go bad. And for your battery at least your battery took a charge my new battery went dead I tried to charge it and my charger wouldn't charge it the check light would come on so I took it to the parts store they told me that the battery is shot. Very sad soldier here.

[Brook]

gmctrucks-


I already epoxied the pin. It worked really good. I used epoxy that had a strength value of something like 4000 lbs .
Thanks for the advice on the pins. I appreciate it.

Sorry to hear about your battery. Use to be you bought a battery and it was pretty dependable if you maintained it. Now it's a toss of the coin.
The last battery I had that went dead was showing fully charged on my charger(century). I took a screwdriver and touched both ends together and nothing. I never knew that a totally dead battery on the charger would show charged. It was definitely a head scratcher for a while. But now I know.
Good luck with your new battery and thanks again.
Brook

[leolkfrm]

DON'T CROSS BATTERY TEMINALS, WHEN YOUR LUCK RUNS OUT YOU WILL BE SORRY! Instead turn on the lights if they don't work its dead