'85 "mule" (battery drianage)

[xyoojcujlaj]

Hi all,

Well its me and my old mule again.
Last time I was here, someone was able to help me get my mule started again so here I am again...

This time something is sucking up all my battery power and its not the lights.

Last week friday, I drove the mule to work and half way there on the highway it gave up just like that well almost just like that. I was traveling at 70 mph and suddenly my lights(head) started to get dim on me then couple minutes later it was out...dark at 5 am. followed by couple jumps from the engine and so i pulled over and that was it.

Right away I knew it was the batteries.... and So I call my brother and we jump tha thing and it starts again... but when we disconnect the jumper cable... it went out (like there was not enough power). so we switch batteries and it was fine until last night and the process starts over again..... We jump tha thing and it went for a mile or so then we had to jump it again... the engines just goes off....

What could it be?

oh and when the engine is on, the Emergency brake and Battery is lit (dimely).

I don't know what is sucking up the battery...

Any suggestion is greatly appreciated.

XCL

?????????????????


yep, definitaley a dead alternator, same thing happened to me on my 83 4x4. oh and the brake and battery lights will always be automatically stuck on when an alternator goes out. also, if for some reason when you change the alternator and those lights stay on or then come on later but the alternator is charging correctly, there is a relay under the dash that controls these two lights. sometimes the relay will fail, i think it's on the pass side. also a great forum to get tech info on toyota trucks is pirate4x4.com. they have a bulletin board just like this and any question about your truck could be answered there even if it's 2wd. good luck

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Hi all,

Sorry to say that its not the alternator. I had that thing tested by Checker and its working fine.

I'm going to replace the battery but I know that won't last long.

Any more ideas, please help me out.

thanks again
xcl

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well its not technically the alternator...its the regulator that is ****ed i think...or both

anyways....change the alternator (it has a built in regulator if i'm not mistaken) and it will be fixed.....

try it out

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Well if anyone could help me out...

I would greatly appreciated...

xcl

 

[Hickey]

if it's not your alternator, then it is your connections from the alternator to the charging system. It sound like the power from you ALT is not getting to your system.

 

[Caleb]

you could have a ground problem...if its grounding out then it could cause the bateries to drain rapidly like you are describing...check for voltage through the frame for a start...


BTW, whats a mule

 

[ace]

Sounds like you need a new battery. You could have a loose plate in there shorting out. I had this happen on a Ford Escort once. It would take a jumpstart and the car would die as we started moving it would die just like yours. Your alternator cannot overcome this short when it happens.


oops, "swithed batteries". Nevermind, i missed that

 

[jmaxj]

i used to have that problem, i was constantly going trough alternators, batteries,cables,etc finally i decided to change the voltage regulator and that worked.

 

[grinch]

I just went throught the same problem on my rig.... Tested the alt. it was good. tested the battery it was good. Just like Hicky said earlier it ended up being bad connections to the charging system...... It was connected well enough to let the battery charge enoug to stay running for a week or so. but it slowly ran out.... I would go back and run NEW wires to your battery and alternator. I screwd around with the old wires on mine for awhile when i finally figured out what was wrong and never could get it to go right. I finally broke down and rewired it and now it works like a charm.

 

[xyoojcujlaj]

Thanks for all who replied...

I'll try re-checking for wire connections....since I just got a new battery not long ago and plus it tested out fine (12V).

I'll let everyone in if/when I get it running again...

xcl

 

[xyoojcujlaj]

Most of who reply are correct.....

It turned out to be a bad connection from my alternator to the battery...

Thanks everyone...

Oh and a "mule" is a nick for 1985 toyota long-bed-2 wheel drive truck....

XCL