66' F100, Modern Tow Pig

[190Evan]

People make electrical seem like it's the devil which is dumb. Electronics are the best thing that ever happened to cars efficiency wise and efficiency makes power. Basically parasitic draw is a small amount of amperage that is being used by a component in the car after the car is shut down and the alternator isn't able to replenish the battery. Something as small as two amps leaking after shut down will kill a battery and nowadays that is caused by a dome lamp, door lamp, trunk lights or things like that being being stuck on. SUPER simple fix the only part that takes effort is finding what is staying on. I would tell you the parasitic draw procedure I learned but it won't really apply for that old of a truck. Do you have a multi meter and are you good at using it?

[Jlyons617]

If you have a clamp on amp meter just clamp it over the positive wire and then start unplugging connectors.

My best guess is the Alternator diodes. If you wanted to, just unplug all the alternator wiring, tape the positive wire and leave it overnight. Chances are it will start. Not too much to go wrong electrically.

[laextreme5]

People make electrical seem like it's the devil which is dumb. Electronics are the best thing that ever happened to cars efficiency wise and efficiency makes power. Basically parasitic draw is a small amount of amperage that is being used by a component in the car after the car is shut down and the alternator isn't able to replenish the battery. Something as small as two amps leaking after shut down will kill a battery and nowadays that is caused by a dome lamp, door lamp, trunk lights or things like that being being stuck on. SUPER simple fix the only part that takes effort is finding what is staying on. I would tell you the parasitic draw procedure I learned but it won't really apply for that old of a truck. Do you have a multi meter and are you good at using it?

Its not that i make it out to be the devil or anyting. I just have very little experience with it. I agree it was one of the best things. You know, now that you mention the dome light and that could cause it, i noticed the bliker stalk is difficult to put in "neutral" position where neither the left or right blinker is one. And the indicator on the dash is extremly dim when it is on. Im wondering if it got bumped and thats what the issue was.

Only way to test that theory would be to leave the battery hooked up over night with the blinker for sure off and see if it cranks over. Unless you have a better suggestion.

[190Evan]

It could be shorted, test that overnight and let me know the results

[laextreme5]

It could be shorted, test that overnight and let me know the results

storm rolled through when i was off work so i wasnt able to :/

[190Evan]

If you have a meter and an inductive amp clamp you can monitor Parasitic Amperage once the car is turned off. If the blinker stalk is the culprit you will see about .5 to 2 amps being drained and when you remove power from the stalk it should go away, if it doesn't go away it's not your problem. If possible find a wiring diagram and determine which fuse controls the blinker stalk function and make sure you know what other components that fuse protects so if the problem goes away you know what the possible components could be.

[nsogiba]

Goddamn you take on a lot of projects. How far is the Mustang from being done?

[laextreme5]

If you have a meter and an inductive amp clamp you can monitor Parasitic Amperage once the car is turned off. If the blinker stalk is the culprit you will see about .5 to 2 amps being drained and when you remove power from the stalk it should go away, if it doesn't go away it's not your problem. If possible find a wiring diagram and determine which fuse controls the blinker stalk function and make sure you know what other components that fuse protects so if the problem goes away you know what the possible components could be.

Awesome, thanks for the tips. Ill see what i can find out in the next few days.

Goddamn you take on a lot of projects. How far is the Mustang from being done?

haha, uh i have a slight problem. As for the mustang being done, money is the issue. Still needs several thousand to finish (not skimping on quality of parts). Hoping sumertime she will be done.

As for the truck its damn near driveable. Had a new carb come in today that im going to install tonight and new rad is on the way which should be here tomorrow and long as i figure out this battery drain issue she will be road worthy for crusin around and whatnot.

[laextreme5]

The new carb came in today. Had a friend come by and we swapped it out right quick. Went together like butter. Hooked the battery up, double checked everything was hooked up correctly and cranked her over. She fired up the first crank. Let her warm up for a minute then took her around the block. Lord have mercy was that a trip. Needs a front and back glass ASAP. was hanging out the door just so i could see. Also didn't help that only one headlight was working (we finished after dark). Only issue we had with the install was the choke. The stock carb has a full manual choke. You manually out it out, and once the engine is warm you have to manually push it back in. On the new carb is has a fitting that uses heat from either a exhaust gas or coolant heat source to slowly "turn off" the choke, so there is no action by the user. See as my truck was a full manual there was no line ran for the heat source. So for now we just zipped the choke open till i get can get some copper tubing and make one.


After we got home we started checking things over and making a list of things that need to be addressed first.


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[190Evan]

Super jealous of that truck

[laextreme5]

Super jealous of that truck

Everythings for sale for the right price

[laextreme5]

Yesterday was just too beautiful of a day not to do something when had a few minutes. Over the last week or so I've had some parts come in to fix up the truck a bit. Im planning on starting on it Tuesday as we are off for Mardi Gras (beauty of Louisiana) and will have the majority of the day to work out in the beautiful weather.

Had about a share hour yesterday, and decided to use it to give the engine bay a quick wash, as it was DIRTY, and along with scope out the cluster fuck of the wiring on this truck. As you may have noticed before i had mentioned a battery drain issue. Ive yet to really look into it. However after washing the engine bay and taking a look into the wiring, its a god damn mess. Id be casing my tail for weeks trying to find the issue. So while I'm in there changing gaskets and such I'm going to go through all the wires and route them safely, get rid of unterminated wires (there are many) see why the the pass. headlight and blinker working, and just clean it up and make it presentable.

I just dont understand how someone can take something so dated and so simple and turn it into a clusterfuck of wiring like they did. All it needs is like 10 wires?!Just, jesus lol. It also was a blast having my little helper out there with me in his Cosy Coupe.



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[GTShunter]

Put a stock 5.4 in that thing and supercharge it.

[CTeunuch]

Looks like a good start, I wish we could find old trucks with only that much rust around here. Excited to see where this goes!

[laextreme5]

Looks like a good start, I wish we could find old trucks with only that much rust around here. Excited to see where this goes!

believe me, there are some buckets of rust around here as well lol I actually found a bit more rust on this one. Needs a front core support, and the cab floor isnt too great. Could use a full front half floor pan. Need to pull the carpet up all the way to see just how far it goes. But for now im focusing on getting it runnign right and rust repair is down the road a bit.