Can weak batteries cause strange issues?

[amidaeus]

My truck has been running great since the day I bought it in 2000. recently I have been having problems with hard starting in the mornings. Temps are around 40 degrees out in the morning. I checked te glow plugs and found one to be bad so I replaced all of them. The hard starting is still there but now I get loping sometimes when it is still cold. Yesterday I started the truck and let it warm up a few minutes and took off down the road. The truck started loping a little but I figured it would go away after it warmed up. I was about a mile away from where I started and it started running real rough and I pushed the accelerator to the floor and it blew some white smoke. I let off and it shut down. Could not get it to start and ran the batteries down after three tries. Had it towed to the house (the wrecker also had a truck with the 7.3) and charged it up overnight and tried to crank it but after two tries the batteries went dead. Replaced the batteries and got it to crank and it is running great??? CPS has been changed and I have replaced the fuel filter recently also. Can weak batteries cause issues like this?

[Snake]

Absolutely. Think about how many things related to the engine are controlled by computers.......which run on electricity provided by batteries/alternator. Low volts/amps will cause the electronic controls to run at a less than optimal condition and that carries over to the motor itself. There's a number of owners who swear their truck ran better after simply upgrading their alternator.

[bigcountrysg]

Yes weak batteries can cause problems especially at starting. I would also recommend having an injector buzz test and cylinder contribution test conducted on the truck.

[amidaeus]

Thanks Guys. We will see what she does in the morning. I hope the issue is as easy as that.

[Tblom]

Be careful if you have a chip on there cause bad batteries/alternator(s) can cause some bad problems with the chip and systems connected to the chiplpu

[bigcountrysg]

Originally Posted by Tblom

Be careful if you have a chip on there cause bad batteries/alternator(s) can cause some bad problems with the chip and systems connected to the chiplpu

Say what? I have had a chip on my truck for 4 years now. I have had dead batteries, low powered batteries, bad injectors, bad glowplugs, a ton of hard start situations in the cold winters of Michigan. I have yet had a problem due to my chip.

[jc82chevyman]

you might also get your alternator tested to, to make sure it is working properly

[Snake]

Originally Posted by Tblom

Be careful if you have a chip on there cause bad batteries/alternator(s) can cause some bad problems with the chip and systems connected to the chiplpu

Originally Posted by bigcountrysg

Say what? I have had a chip on my truck for 4 years now. I have had dead batteries, low powered batteries, bad injectors, bad glowplugs, a ton of hard start situations in the cold winters of Michigan. I have yet had a problem due to my chip.

bigcounty -- I'm with you on this. Look at the post count of the person making that statement.......

[Tblom]

Yes, I've seen the alternator go bad on a 7.3 and my friend had a chip and it was running bad after the alternator was replaced and it was running very rough and he upgraded chips and then all the problems went away

[Tblom]

Yes I've seen that happen on my friends 7.3. The alternating went bad and when he replaces it was running realty rough and stalling so he upgraded his chip and then all the problems went away