[JASonic]

I have a problem. Today, I ended up needing a jump to get started. The starter would roll a bit and then the dreaded "clicking". I got it started real easy with a jump.

Couple questions.
Should the needle on battery guage inside the car be more towards the "+" side?

Also, when I do the diagnostic thing where I get the numbers to come up on the tachometer, the battery level is reading 160. Is this where it should be?

Last one. How do you know if the battery needs a little water? It says in the book that in hot places (Florida) that you may need to check the electrolyte level. Well, when I open the battery, I can see water in the holes but how far up should it come.

Thanks so much for the help!!!!!!!!!

[dgt_mustang]

im not an expert or anymore but i work at autozone, all i know is that you would be better off getting a new battery, especially with the warranty that most of them are carrying now a days, putting water in them will not only get old put eventually ruin the internals. but like i said im no expert.

[El_Cangri]

the water level i think it should be like in the middle.. idk how to say it..

my battery water goes like one nail deep... aproxx

how do u do the tach trick.. i cant do it.. could u exaplin it to me..


ohh and the bat gauge it a lil more inclined to one side.. i dont remember wich one was but i think it was the + side.. tho not to much inclined to the + side

[JASonic]

Originally Posted by El_Cangri the water level i think it should be like in the middle.. idk how to say it.. my battery water goes like one nail deep... aproxx how do u do the tach trick.. i cant do it.. could u exaplin it to me.. ohh and the bat gauge it a lil more inclined to one side.. i dont remember wich one was but i think it was the + side.. tho not to much inclined to the + side

Sure El, its real easy.
Put the key in the ignition but dont turn it. Immeadiatly push the tach reset button and hold it. While you are holding the tach reset in, turn the key all the way but DONT start it. Wait just a second and it will go into a trouble mode. The first thing that happens is the guages all"test" by moving their full distance. After that, you can cycle through a bunch of shit by simply pressing the tach reset button. Its nice to be able to see exactly what the battery is producing (unfortunately, I dont know what its supposed to be)

Hey, if you get it to work, let me know what your battery level is showing. It will say "bat 160" or whatever its reading. Like I said, mines at 160 or so. I wonder if thats low.

[El_Cangri]

ok lemme check brb

[ROUSHME661]

Mustangworld HEC Instrument Cluster Diagnostics

there ya go have fun it also shows u some other cool stuff on there

[El_Cangri]

my marks 160 also

[JASonic]

Originally Posted by El_Cangri my marks 160 also

cool. thanks man. I wonder what the heck is going on with my stupidstang?

[ROUSHME661]

ive heard of many problems with batteries and mustangs and mine ive replaced so many times its not funny .. my suggestions is if ur not driving ur car for a few days disconnect the battery or just start it once in a while

[1 SNAKE 3]

ok mann just ran out and checked my battery it was running 152-153

[El_Cangri]

when this one was bougth..

new alternator and battery (2 batt to be exact) in just one month

now the alt is dying and theres no cash

sorry to thread jack but.. do any of u know about a good cheap alternator... i dont want to mess any electronic bcuz of just a stupid alt

[El_Cangri]

hey did u checked ur cables?

are the poles dirty?

[JASonic]

I got mine from a junk yard for 40 bones and they gave me a 6 month warranty with the core.

There was one for sale here but I dont know if its still available. It was to a GT and I dont know if it fits a 6er.

SNAKE- if your s is in the low 150s than I should be ok with 160... Im stumped why I needed a jump today.

[1 SNAKE 3]

ya you should be fine i havent needed a jump yet and my car starts up fine and our numbers are not that far off so you should be good

[El_Cangri]

Originally Posted by ja002gl There was one for sale here but I dont know if its still available. It was to a GT and I dont know if it fits a 6er.

the Gt doesn't fit the v6

[dark-samurai2]

wow i really hope you didnt add any water to that baby. if you added just a little bit to much the water will be fucked and theres no way to fix that. you will dilute the acid in it that it wont react properly to the metals in side. this is what you need to do to see if its bad.

buy a \volt meter from harbor freight there like 10 bucks if your stuck for cash. stick it on the battery and see if it says less then 12.6 then try recharging it then start the car then turn it off and try it again if it still says its below 12.6 replace it. now the alternator is a little tricky if both your eyes have fallen out. haha so this should be relatively easy. set the thing to volt put red on the terminal and black on the chrage back terminal of the alternator and start the car. if it is below 14.6 buy a new alternator. and heres a friendly little tip go buy parts from the junk yard if you want to put junk in your car. haha good luck man. when you buy a battery invest in a gel maintanance free battery there awsome and last longer becuase there is no evaporation through the vents. because it has none good luck

[ROUSHME661]

yeah gel batteries are great but run up about 180 bucks so also u gotta go with whats in ur budget...but if u have the money gel over acid

[JASonic]

Whoa, that sucks. I literally put like a tablespoon in each of the 6 holes just to make them all even. It says in the owners manual to check the level and add distilled water if necessary. I hope I didnt fuck it up more.

Anyhow, I have a real nice charger. I disconnected the cables from the car and hooked up the charger. Within 2 minutes, the charger cut off and read "charge complete". Now, with the cables from the car still connected, I hooked up the charger and let it alone for like 30 minutes and it would NOT read "fully charged".

Does this mean my cables might be bad? None of the accesories seem to be draining either because I checked them.

I mean, even if my battery was brand new, if the cables are bad or "weak" somewhere along the line, the starter would not be getting enough electricity to turn hard. Could this be why there is an extended period before it starts sometimes? Also, could this cause it to not start at all sometimes (like yesterday)?

I wouldnt even begin to know how to replace those cables. Shit!

what do you think????

[El_Cangri]

does your cable look whitish?

or have dust?..

you can add distilled water it doesnt fuck the battery... unless you use normal tap water

[dark-samurai2]

the only reason the starter would crank hard if the battery was fine is if there was corrosion on the starter somewhere or it was loose and had a bad ground. but it sounds to me like your battery is just bad. and no a bad battery cable would not be the reason your battery wont charge from an external battery charger. it would however be the culprit if you werent getting a good charge back from the alternator. that could be a problem but in your case i dont think thats what this is. it sounds more to me like you just have a bad battery. if your battery charger has a trickle chrage option on it then connect that to your battery and trickle charge it. but that could take anywhere from 1 hour to 3 days. but this could reenergize the electrons in your battery and fix it, but not all the time. i would still go with your battery is bad. also check to make sure that there is no crossion on your battery anywhere. and as for your starter check to make sure it isnt loose because that would cause a bad ground