Hey everybody. I've been reading through what I can find online and, not being mechanically inclined, I'm not sure how to figure out what's wrong with my truck. Best I can figure is that there are/were three issues. The first is the battery, second should be fixed but my a/c compressor was shooting up sparks and I had it replaced yesterday, third is a stall that occurred during a sharp left turn as I was parking in my cul de sac.

1. Battery: my battery kept dying when the vehicle would sit for a while (2 hours, maybe less). I switched out the battery and it kept happening. It would run fine for hours once started and it would start back up if I ran to the grocery store or something but it couldn't sit for a few hours without losing too much power to turn over and when it sat overnight it was completely dead. I took it to get checked out and the guy said the alternator was good. He then checked for a parasitic drain and said the battery was getting a huge draw and it was enough to kill it in a couple hours. My domelight hasn't worked well for years because of bad wiring so I figured that was it. Sure enough, I pulled the #26 fuse and the draw went away immediately. I just left the fuse out when parked and put it back in when I needed my speedometer. It would sit over night and start up fine. This went on for a couple days without issue.

2. Day before yesterday about 1/3rd mile from my destination a whirring sound got bad in my engine and got worse when I left the truck at idle. I opened up the hood and the a/c compressor was sparking and smoking. I had it towed to a mechanic and he put in a new one for me. The truck had sat overnight and started in the morning both the night the a/c compressor went bad and the day after I dropped it off at the mechanic.

3. As I was driving home from the mechanic yesterday, I pulled into my cul de sac and the vehicle stalled when I came in on a sharp left turn. It fired right back up and I drove it around the neighborhood for half an hour without incident. This included recreating the turn to park that initially stalled it. Hours later I drove to the store and there were no problems starting or driving.

Now this morning my battery doesn't have enough juice to even power the dashlights. Everytime I've let it sit for a while I've been removing that #26 fuse to stop the parasitic draw and even though it was out last night, the battery is still 100% dead.

What the hell is going on? Are these incidents related or is it just bad luck that a few things all came crashing down on me at once?

Any help is appreciated. I'm broke and I put the $450 a/c compressor on my credit card. I can't afford to just keep having the mechanic replace stuff hoping it'll fix the issue.

Thanks.

 

Welcome to the forum

What was the fuel level in the gas tank when it stalled?
Not uncommon if fuel level was low, gas sloshes to one side and fuel pump at bottom of tank sucks in air, engine stalls when air gets to engine, within a few seconds

Year of Ranger would be helpful, you should include that in any new post

Battery can self drain, internal short.
Disconnect either battery cable and test battery voltage
New battery will be 12.8volts, just FYI
And Volt Meter should stay at whatever voltage it shows when you hook it up, let it stay on battery for a few minutes and voltage should be the same, not dropping.
If it is dropping while battery is disconnected from vehicle then battery is bad, new or not, it is self draining

You can not test for parasitic drain if Ranger is 1995 or newer model, easily

They have a Battery Saver Relay that doesn't OPEN(cut power) for 20 to 30 minutes after key is out and doors are closed.
Fuse 26 cuts power to GEM(generic electronic module) which controls the Battery Saver Relay.

So just after you shut off the vehicle you will have maybe a .3-.5amp draw, which WILL drain the battery, after 20-30 minutes it should drop to .03 to .05amps which will NOT drain the battery.

If you don'y have a volt meter handy then get one, lol, save you lots of money
But for now disconnect either battery cable when truck sits overnight, then hook it back up when you need to drive it, if it starts OK then battery is probably OK, if it doesn't start then battery is bad

Tell us the year of the ranger and we will look at what other fuses you may want to pull out to see what circuits maybe draining battery

 

Thanks.

Sorry, I have rarely used forums and I thought all my truck's info would show up since I put it in while making the account.

2001 Ranger XLT V6 4.0 4x4

Okay, so to look for a parasitic drain, I would need to turn off the vehicle, remove the negative cable from the post, somehow attach the volt meter (alligator clip, jumper cable) to each of them, wait half an hour, and then start pulling fuses. Right?

So, to see if the battery is bad would I need to:
1. jump my truck and let the battery recharge
2. turn off my truck after a while (20min?)
3. disconnect the battery and test it
4. re-connect the battery and test it

Is that right? I assume I'll have to let it run to recharge the battery since it is currently dead.

 

If battery is DEAD then it is dead, can't recharge it and expect it to work, car batteries don't work well that way.
Just test its voltage, unhooked from vehicle, if it is dropping during test then battery is toast.

Car batteries have thin plates inside, these are used because they can discharge 80amps quickly, starter motors take 50-80amps depending on engine compression and outside temp.
Thin plates can not take long slow drains, the plates will short out, and they become self draining.
And they like quick recharges, quick drain quick recharge, thats the design

Regular or Deep Cycle batteries have thick plates, it is hard for them to discharge high amps quickly, but they can take long slow drains in stride and then be recharged.


You can recharge your battery but depending on how many times it has been run down it may not hold a charge, worth testing it after recharging.


Here are the 3 power diagrams I have for 2001 Electrics

You can find all the Fuses that are "Hot all the time", not on ignition switch, most are in the engine fuse box
key off
Pull out each of these fuses one by one and and put test light or volt meter on the fuses contacts, should be 0 volts.
Keyless entry(security module) and computer needs power all the time so will show voltage.
As does Radio, to keep clock right and pre-sets.
Fuse 26 also needs power for GEM

 

A friend came over to jump it last night and I got it going. However I tried to use my Stanley Jumpit 1000/500Amp and couldn't get it to turn over. This jump starter is supposed to be able to start (approx) 5 batteries from stone dead on one full charge. I had a full charge and only got a grumble out of the engine before the clicking sound of a dead battery. After trying though, the battery did have the power to run dash lights, radio, etc. whereas before it did not.

It was raining like mad yesterday and I couldn't test the fuses but today it's just overcast and I'm gonna try to get out there sooner than later.

 

By the by, I just want to again say thanks for the help. I wish I had more than that to give back to the community for the assistance, but I'm pretty dang ignorant when it comes to vehicles. Hence being on here and trying to learn.

 

You need to get a Volt meter, they are easy to use with a little learning and can save you hundreds of dollars over time.

Walmart has a few under $15

Set Volt Meter to DC Volts, and test away

What you could have done with volt meter and your Stanley jump starter is too hook up meter to battery with jumpers in place, then try to start engine
A 12volt system should not drop below 9.8volts when starter motor is activated.
If it does then AMPs are not there.

A dead battery SUCKS in AMPS, so while your Stanley unit has AMPS it usually is not enough if battery in vehicle is dead.
So with dead battery hooked up there still wasn't enough AMPs getting thru for starter motor to turn engine

The 1000/500 rating is reserve amps, like you said for 5 starts, it doesn't mean it can release all the AMPs at one time

As said earlier, if you are not disconnecting the battery from the vehicle and it does have parasitic drain then battery is pretty much ruined now, if it was newer then take it back and get new battery under warranty.
And do NOT leave it connected unless testing or driving vehicle.

 

I do indeed have a multimeter.

For locating the draw, you said that I need to wait until the vehicle has been off for 30min. During this time it is my understanding that the multimeter should be connected to the negative terminal and the negative cable the whole time. After this time I shouldn't open the doors as this would cause Battery Saver Relay to "wake up" and affect my multimeter reading. My issue is that to get to the interior fuses that I would need to pull to test, my door needs to be open. So, can I leave the door open during the 30 min while I wait for the systems to fall back asleep and then just be sure to not close it or do anything that may cause the vehicle to "wake up"? I looked but do not see where I can easily compress/tape down a door sensor to trick the vehicle into thinking the door is closed when it is not.

I would like to check the interior fuses before moving onto the engine fuses (also called the Battery Junction Box correct?) because I worry that is beyond my capabilities. The diagrams you provided are pretty intimidating.

Concerning the JumpIt, I've seen videos and read reviews of it starting batteries that were dead (as in no dash light, etc) and it worked fine. I've also personally used it a time or two on a similarly dead battery. I wonder if it is just that these batteries were dead in the sense that they still had a charge but just not enough to power the interior lights. Whereas my battery is 100% dead because of the draw. I don't know. But it's a bummer that it doesn't start it up. Would leaving the JumpIt connected to the battery for say a half hour allow power to trickle into the battery? Maybe this would give it enough base power to then draw on the additional energy to turn the engine over.

Also, referring back to my initial post, would a new a/c compressor affect this battery issue? Would the stalling of the vehicle be related to this battery issue? Since the truck started right back up after the stall, the battery clearly had power. Disconnecting the battery when parked is a great way to ensure it fires up when I need to get somewhere, but I am certainly now concerned about stalling out while on a sharp curve.

Oh, and it has probably been flat dead 4-5 times now. It was a brand new battery as of 1 week ago, so I can return it once this issue is resolved.

 

Okay, here's the multimeter results:

1 minute after shut off: -3.5
40 minutes after shut off: -0.08/-0.09

this is with the multimeter leads connected by a small spring clamp to the cable and my jumper cable (not starter pack) to the battery post.

 

No you start in engine fuse box, that feeds most cab fuse box systems

Especially Fuse 1 50amp

 

Gotcha.

 

I pulled the mini fuses near the battery and the multimeter was still reading .08-.09. I came back in to see if I should pull the larger fuses with the clear coverings and/or the even larger blocks that are covered in all gray or all black.

When I went back out, the multimeter had been connected for 55 minutes and now read: 0.02-0.03

So I have no idea what's going on. I had my alternator and starter tested by a mechanic at a battery store, so it shouldn't be that...

In between now and getting this fixed, can I drive the vehicle without fear of stalling out? I have been using a friend's driveway to do this today, but he needs to be going sooner than later. That means driving back to my place.

 

As long as "engine running voltage"(alternator) is measured as 13.5 to 14.8 volts at battery, then you will be fine to drive it, it is running fully off alternator voltage, no battery voltage at all.

If below 13.5 volts then there is a prblem with alternator as well as battery

After getting home do NOT shut off the engine, open the hood and test voltage again.
If drive was over 5 minutes then voltage at battery should be under 14volts but above 13.4 volts, than means battery is OK and so is voltage regulator.
If voltage is still above 14volts then battery is probably bad now, not taking and holding a charge, so voltage regulator is still trying to recharge it.
In any case shut off engine and then disconnect battery.
Check battery voltage now
Should be above 12.5volts and steady
If voltage is lower or dropping with volt meter connected battery is bad