Power Problem

[Deleted User]

New battery this spring. Car has been running great. Stopped for gas the other day and it wouldn't start back up. Turned slowly like a dead battery. Got a jump and it started right up. Took it home and charged the battery. Started just fine after. Was running it today and when pulling into the garage it died. This time no lights or even a hint of turning over. Jumped it and it started right away. After a while it started again. I bought one of the portable chargers, but anyone have any ideas why the power loss?

Unknown

Sounds like the battery isn't being charged, check your generator and see if it's working.

rambos_ride

52Hudson wrote:

New battery this spring. Car has been running great. Stopped for gas the other day and it wouldn't start back up. Turned slowly like a dead battery. Got a jump and it started right up. Took it home and charged the battery. Started just fine after. Was running it today and when pulling into the garage it died. This time no lights or even a hint of turning over. Jumped it and it started right away. After a while it started again. I bought one of the portable chargers, but anyone have any ideas why the power loss?

Always double check your battery connections and ground connections. I've seen a lot of posts on the forum get traced back to the ground strap not being correct...

If you have a multi-meter test the battery voltage prior to starting and once again after starting. If the battery is getting a charge the voltage reading will be higher while running. If you notice the voltage while running continues to drop I would suspect the 1. voltage regulator 2.gen/alt (don't know if you are 6/12v?) 3.followed by the battery.

Of course I know nothing of Hudson systems and am only commenting on my general automotive experience! Good Luck

Unknown

Yep, a volt meter will be able to help you out here. Check voltage at battery and coming straight off the gen/alt. If it your 6 with gen, you'll need to rev the engine a bit to get the gen to put out enough power for it show on your voltmeter. You should peak at around 7.5v or so, maybe more, maybe less, but there should be a definite increase in voltage. Alt should read about that no matter engine RPM.



If your 12v with alt, then you should have something between 13.6 and 14.2v.



You shouldn't notice much of a difference between the alternator/gen and the battery, maybe .1v. If you've got a poor connection at the battery, the gen might be putting out a lot of volts. Hope this helps



Jesse

JasonNC

My car did the same thing. Drove me crazy. It turned out that the wire that went from the solenoid/battery post to the voltage regulator was loose due to a bad connection. I fixed that and haven't had a problem since. I would follow everyone else's advice and then check my wiring connections.