Alternator or Battery

[StrangeBrew]

My question is if my alternator or my battery is bad in my plow truck. I am able to start the vehicle with a jump and it will idle with the lights and radio on while maintaining about 14 volts on the gauge. As soon as I try to engage the plow, all the power is drained from the battery and the vehicle dies. I need to jump it again to start it.

If the let the vehicle idle for 10 minutes with nothing on, turn it off then try to restart it, it needs a jump again.

So the question is, is my battery not taking the charge or is it not getting a charge from the alternator? The battery is only two years old but the vehicle is only used for plowing thus doesn’t start very often. I can easily change the battery but I don’t want to mess with the corroded bolts on the alternator.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

[fishing tech]

The Battery could be shorted internally. If it isn't used alot it may have froze, thus shorting it out and not taking a charge.

If your connection are not tight or are corroded the battery may not charge either. You can start it and remove the battery cable (either 1) if it dies right away the alternator is junk.

[Surface Tension]

Start out cleaning the terminals and then FULLY charge the battery with a battery charger. Look to see if theres something draining your battery during storage like glove box light and so on. You can then stop by and have a load test done, Batteries Plus will do that for you.

Or simple charge like said and disconnect the battery from the truck. Next time you go to use the truck and the battery is dead you'll know its the battery.

Like the earlier post stated, it the battery was dead then its frozen too. Could be damaged for good or you might luck out. In either case you'll need to thaw the battery out in order to charge it.