QuestionQUESTION: Hello, I have a 87' Brougham with the 5.0L Old's 307 V8. Within the last month I have been helplessly trying to figure out what has been causing my battery to drain only to be jumped. I originally had figured the Alternator belt was bad, due to the looseness of the belt and the loud squeal. I replaced this, and tightened the alternator up as well. It still squeals randomly at times.
I had the battery tested, and the test result was that the core was indeed good, I slow charge the battery from time to time to avoid the constant jumping, but I am stuck at a dead battery within a handful of starts.
One other interesting aspect to this story, is that I jumped the car one day and drove it for a good 15 minutes only for the car to start right up after sitting for around 7 hours. This indicated to me that the alternator most likely charged the battery for at least a little bit. Last night on a drive, all seemed well as I thought I had fixed the problem with a belt, but when the defroster was on the lights dimmed out on me, and I knew it was going to be dead when I arrived. And it was.
I haven't tested for the .50 max drain while turned off, I will give that a go. Also within the last 2 days the Check Engine Light turned on, I will give the diagnostic test a go and tell you what it tells me.
Thanks,
Jeff Favignano
St. Louis MO
ANSWER: See if you can turn the alternator pulley by hand and let me know.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: It turns quite effortlessly, I also noticed this when I was changing the belt on it the other day. I really pried it good and hard when mounting it back, you think it's still not tight enough? I had heard of a 2 day rule for a re-tighten.
Answer2 day retighten rule is horse hockey. What you have is a classic example of another loose belt.
Due to the picture limitations of only allowing 1 picture on this persons website and you will require several pictures of how to tighten this other belt.
Please e-mail: onlineautohelp@msn.com.
