Battery tests pretty good but still won’t crank

[Warren Austin]

Just looking to take advantage of the deep experience of the Forum community to get educated about batteries.

The 4.5 yr old battery on my 97 F-150 5.4 just up and died all of a sudden today. No weak starts leading up to this. Showed 13.4v or so on the meter. Lights bright and strong horn. It would crank for just a sec then nothing but the solenoid clicking. Jumped it with no real luck until I took the negative from the frame and attached it to the truck battery. Cranked right up.

Took the battery to auto parts store and their tester showed >13v and CCA of 770 (down from 880).

Anybody think there might be something else involved or does this just happen sometime? I had hoped the test at the store would have shown definitively that the battery was a goner.

Thanks in advance – New to the forum but long-time viewer of ETCG.

Topic

[college man]

It does happen with no warning sometimes. Had an optima red top 4 years and a day
old. Went to the store came out and just clicked. dead. Make sure all your cables are clean
and tight.

http://www.ericthecarguy.com/electrical-videos

[Warren Austin]

Thanks for that confirmation. I was concerned I missed something easy. Posts and cables are in good shape. As always, would’ve just liked to get one more year out of that battery.

[Bluesnut]

Have you checked and cleaned the battery cable end connections where they ground?

If those are clean and tight you might check the voltage on the battery when the starter motor is activated. It should not go below 10.5 volts really. If it goes to 10 or below the battery is shaky or the starter motor is dragging.
The starter motor could be checked with an ammeter. The normal current draw once the engine is rotating should be around 125 or so amps after a roughly 300 amp surge. Those numbers are not etched in stone as there are too many factors involved but generally speaking they’re close.

[Author]

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