1996 Geo Tracker battery will not charge

Tiny
TRACKERTROUBLE
  • MEMBER
  • 1996 GEO TRACKER
  • 121,000 MILES
(sister-in-laws car, 2 relatives of hers worked on it before I had the pleasure) I started with the battery because it just died one day after running fine for almost a year after purchase. It ran fine for a day until the battery died again so I moved on to the alternator and charged the battery. Ran fine again for another day until it went dead again. Today I had both checked at the parts store and both got the green light so I checked all the grounds. Cleaned them, made sure they were tight and went for more laps around the neighborhood, it died again. I have researched relentlessly the past few days and put all the info into motion. DRLs have been "disconnected" (one-click up on the E-brake) checked for any loose wires or anything out of place. Now im looking for any advice on other things to look for. After giving up for the day and brainstorming, now I want to replace the grounds. Im wondering if I can put separate grounds for the alternator, battery, and frame ground. I could only find one that was attached to the passenger inside fender wall and one under the intake manifold. Some other forums said there were 3, one on the fender wall, by the bell housing and one on the frame. I pulled the cd player out of it looking for a clicking relay behind it and found a whole mess of wires. (Never found the click) unhooked them all and taped the power and ground. It had a constant that was hooked into a 15A fuse that I also pulled out. There is one relay attached to the firewall that doesnt look stock but I have no idea what it controls. There is a red wire coming from it with another 15A fuse and blue wires that run towards the bottom of the radiator and looks like it runs to an aftermarket fan in front of the condenser. Im sorry it seems like im rambling but im trying to remember any little thing I have done. Other then that I dont know what else to do besides grabbing a meter and going to town on ALL the wiring. Any advice will be greatly appreciated! Thanks for your time!
Wednesday, August 14th, 2013 AT 6:51 PM

4 Replies

Tiny
CJ MEDEVAC
  • MECHANIC
  • 11,005 POSTS
I LOOKED UP A "PLAIN JANE" TRACKER IN "MITCHELL I"

(THERE WAS ANOTHER LISTED."LSI" OR SOME CRAP)

THIS IS "CHARGING CIRCUIT" IT SHOULD SHOW YOU EVERYTHING THAT MIGHT PLAY IN. IT MAY AID YOU IN TESTING TOO. LOCATIONS OF STUFF IS USUALLY WRITTEN BESIDE IT

MAYBE YOU WILL SEE A FUSE OR FUSIBLE LINK OR WHATEVER THAT YOU MISSED

MAYBE IT WILL BE SO EZ!

MAYBE SIS-N-LAW WILL BUY ME LUNCH? LOL!

TELL SIS-N-LAW THEY MAY TAKE THAT THING IN TRADE FOR SOMETHING LIKE MINE. THEY JUST CAN'T GET THEIR COPYCATS RIGHT. THIS ONE HAS MADE IT 67 YEARS, IT'S DRIVEN SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK

YOU HAVE A VOLTMETER AND ARE CHECKING VOLTAGE AT THE BATTERY POSTS. NOT RUNNING. AND WHEN IT'S RUNNING?

LEMME KNOW IF THIS HELPS, AND HOW IT'S GOING ON YOUR END

YOU MIGHT LOOK UP "PARASITIC DRAIN" ON "YOU TUBE" IF THIS AIN'T-A-WORKIN'

THE MEDIC
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Wednesday, August 14th, 2013 AT 9:41 PM
Tiny
TRACKERTROUBLE
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  • 3 POSTS
Quick update. Tried bypassing the DRLs completely to no avail. Tried the old trick of pulling the negative off the battery while running and it stayed on. Rpm dropped a little but it never shut off. I did notice while putting the battery in that there was no spark. I put the negative on then the positive and didn't even get a little spark. I'm completely lost on this truck. Checked all fuses and for any loose wires and found a corroded IG 60A fuse I replaced. The lamp and ABS fuses are corroded to and I'll be replacing those today. Also going to get a digi multi meter today. This analog one isn't getting the job done for me. --CJ checked the voltage running and not but with the analog meter I could only notice it dropped. Its not really giving me any info I can work with BC I honestly can't read the damn thing lol. Gonna get back on it after a quick trip to the "zone". Oh nice CJ by the way. The older the better in my book!
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Friday, August 16th, 2013 AT 12:10 PM
Tiny
CJ MEDEVAC
  • MECHANIC
  • 11,005 POSTS
THE OLE "SNATCH THE CABLE OFF, WHILE IT'S RUNNING TRICK" WILL FRY A COMPUTER AND OTHER STUFF TOO. BAD trackertrouble. BAD trackertrouble! LOL!

WORKED WELL ON PRE COMPUTER CARS. BUT EVEN THEN, YOU RAN THE RISK OF MESSING UP YOUR VOLTAGE REGULATOR

IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE OLE VOLTMETER WELL, THERE'S A PLACE WITH BILLIONS OF VIDEOS, THAT MAY SURELY BE ABLE TO GIVE YOU LESSONS!

IF YOU RUN CONTINUITY/ RESISTANCE TESTS. DISCONNECT MR. BATTERY 1ST

ARE YOU ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE DIAGRAM?

THE MEDIC
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Friday, August 16th, 2013 AT 3:55 PM
Tiny
TRACKERTROUBLE
  • MEMBER
  • 3 POSTS
Ewwww. Did not know that. Didn't want to drive 40 miles back to my house so I went to dads right down the road and borrowed his which I think he got from "the pepaw" lol. Big box with just a needle pointing at numbers that made no sense to me. Got tired of that quick so I went to get mine. I know how to work this one!

The diagram was great. I found a site that has all of the wiring diagrams in PDF. It also showed me I unhooked the wrong wires for the DRLs (put them back and got the right ones now)

Could it be possible for the car to start and run with a short in the ign wire? The car sat for months before I started working on it and the first thing I did was start it and pull it on ramps. I'm a lil tall. Anyway I don't think its a parasitic drain. Its something to do with the charging system.

Today I also found what looks to be a ground right near the speed cable to the frame. None of the diagrams say the grounds are where they are supposed to be except the one on the right inside fender. So I'm going to try running separate grounds in the morning.

Just to make sure I'm thinking right--im going to run one from the alt to battery, one from starter to the battery, battery to engine and engine to frame? I did stereos and alarms for a few years and only really had to upgrade things, not track them down.

No problem fixing issues, when I know what the issues are.
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Friday, August 16th, 2013 AT 4:31 PM

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