[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by lyd

Well, when I said new battery, I guess I exaggerated slightly. I have been driving on it for about 4 weeks.

Still, good ideas. I have a good old-fashioned carbon pile tester here, I'll see what that has to say when I get a chance. Unfortunately it won't be now, because I have to head out to a family thing. Regulator seems to be OK based on my charging system checks earlier, unless it is some intermittent problem.

Here's hoping all my worrying was for nothing and the problem was just this: As I was removing my meter and closing the hood, I noticed that the positive clamp was not completely tight on the battery terminal. It had a bit of wiggle to it. Now, it sure seemed to be making plenty of contact just the same, but if I am really lucky then the battery was never drained at all, and that connection was just too loose to carry the current to crank. Now that I think about it, the charger was not really putting out much amperage when I hooked it up. I had it set for 6 but the battery was drawing like I had set it for 2. Perhaps I just wiggled the clamp back into better contact when I clipped the charger lead on. Long shot, but hey, hope springs eternal.

I tightened it down good and solid, so we'll see.

Thank you for the reply.

Did you clean the battery posts and cable terminals good before tightening everything up. It's possible if it has been lose long that it might have some corrosion effecting the electrical connection.