wont stay charged

[biff101]

Im just going to state that the truck came from TX and it is now getting cold. It was 4 below and I had it plugged in. It started then I put it in the garage to put the body lift on. It had a slow turn at starting then nothing. I put the trickle charger on for the night. I am going to take the batteries to see if they are still good. I am guessing that they are not.

[madpogue]

Make sure the batteries aren't connected to one another when you test them. The question is, are they just tired and no longer capable of holding a charge, or is there a parasitic load? If you have a meter, you can test for a parasitic load. Or, the poor-man's test - charge up both batteries and leave them disconnected, then test them again. If either or both go down, then they're the culprit. If not, then that suggests there's a parasitic load.

If it's the batteries, replace both; don't have one battery weaker than the other. We're running the Blain's Farm & Fleet "Platinum" 84-month batteries in both trucks, one of 'em has had them for over three years, and they still start the truck like new. I've had the smaller group 75 version in my Saturn, and after 7 years it was still pretty strong.

If it still cranks slow with new/charged batteries, the starter is suspect. They just crank slower and slower as they age.

[biff101]

I just went on the web site and those batteries are only $85.00 Auto zone has the same battery for $125.00. Are they just as good? I was planning on taking the batteries to the store and let them test them. I saw the date sticker on the batteries is from 01. Thats over 10 years so thats why I think they are tired.

[biff101]

heading out to farm and fleet Janesville

[madpogue]

Buy a Powerball ticket. 10 years for a battery starting a lame-o gasser is incredible. 10 years for a set of batteries starting a diesel, running the glow plugs, etc., is downright amazing. Yuh, even if something else is going wrong, you'd be chasing your tail trying to diagnose it with 10-year-old batteries. Drop a couple fresh ones in and go from there. Even those old beaters will get you $7 credit each.

There aren't a whole lot of battery mfrs out there. Seems like most of the FLAPS and farm store ones are made by Johnson Controls. That's who makes the F&F batts, and I can only say that in all our vehicles they've performed very well.