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This morning while driving my 67 coupe I noticed that the ammeter was registering a strong charge (almost to the 40 mark). As I continued driving, the amount of charge slowly declined until after about 20 minutes the ammeter was at the normal position indicating almost no charge. I checked for a current drain when I returned home but, other than the very slight drain for the clock, there was no evidence of any current loss. About eight hours later, I took the car out again with the same indication of a strong charge. I didn't drive as far this time but upon returning home checked the batttery with a voltmeter and obtained a reading of 11.65 volts, somewhat undercharged as I suspected. Is this indicative of a battery that is about to give up the ghost? I should mention that the battery is a four year old Optima which has given me excellent service to date.
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Re: Battery Discharge
John - it sounds like you have a bad or weak cell....if I recall....a healthy battery is really sligthly under 13V not 12V......is the reading you took with a battery disconnect switch shut off or are you reading it with the circut attached? If it is 11.65 attached, and you pull the cable or shut the switch off and it reads around 12.6 or so......you must have a drain to diagnose....Craig -
Re: Battery Discharge
Thanks, Craig. I just measured it again. 12.07 volts both with the negative connected and again with the cutoff switch open. No current drain.Comment
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Re: Battery Discharge
John, If you have not had your alternator checked you should have that done. I had a similar problem with my '68 and it turned out to be a bad diode in the alternator. I had it rebuilt and all is fine now. I too run an optima battery and they are great.Hopr this helps.Comment
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