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Here is what is going on.......The truck has been running great 81 luv diesel 4x4.2 days went to go start it and the battery is weak....battery is 7 months old.....so I put a trickle charger on for about 10 hours....well when i come out in the morning it shows it has charged completely.....When i try to start itit cranks super slow like the battery is dead....So i hooked a different charger up to it thinking the charger could have been bad..and also unhooked battery cables in case there could be a short or something draining the battery...Let it set overnight.Charger showed a full.Hooked cables back up and the same thing cranking real slow....all the dash lights dim real bad like the battery is dead....borrowed a third and it shows the battery is dead...does anybody have any ideas...I pretty much think its the battery cause it set for a few months down at mechanic shop for a while..but not too quick to jump as this battery costed a hundred dollars.Thanks for any help

Also anybody know the specs of the battery that is supposed to go into these trucks just want to make sure I have a sufficient battery

actually the books cal for a battery at about 85 amps i think for a diesel, 50-some for a gas.

I got about 700 CCA and about 950 reg amps in mine, w/ a 3 yr. warr.

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-Old ride-82 Luv diesel 5spd with some upgrades
-Past rides-82 Sierra, 78 Coupe De'Ville, 91 2dr Blazer, 86 RX7, 86 Porsche 944T (rear-ended and totaled)
-Curr. rides- 1970 Ford LTD 4dr, 390 4Bbl, 2nd owner! With a few Extras 00' Civic beater...

Here is some more info had battery tested and the battery tested fine its pulling 629 amps at the minimum.Whats weird is the negative battery cable that grounds to the block gets very warm(enough to make moisture steam) after 3-5 seconds of trying to crank.....Its cranks very slowly like the battery is dead....But can jump it from another vehicle and cranks fine....Does anybody have any ideas here....

The wire that's warming up has too high of a resistance and you are loosing power from that. Try cleaning it's connections to the battery and to the truck, or replacing it.

what about the starter?, or is the (-) batt. cable is too-small-a-diameter to support 600+ amps going through it, or maybe it's got cracked wires in it and the cable simply just needs replacin'
BTW how new is the cable? is it stock or a replacement

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-Old ride-82 Luv diesel 5spd with some upgrades
-Past rides-82 Sierra, 78 Coupe De'Ville, 91 2dr Blazer, 86 RX7, 86 Porsche 944T (rear-ended and totaled)
-Curr. rides- 1970 Ford LTD 4dr, 390 4Bbl, 2nd owner! With a few Extras 00' Civic beater...

It is the negative cable that is getting hot....rebuilt starter just in case that was it but it continues to do it....just might have to replace ground cable

In the short term the smaller cable shouldn't slow it up too much. After you clean the cables and terminals and still have the same problems you need to check how much draw is happening during regular cranking. If the starter pulls it down too much check brushes and bushings. When the bushings wear it allow the armature to start ground out against the winding. Most times new bearings will clear this up. You can also have the armature turned, and readjust the windings.

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I want to be different like everybody else.

When you jump from another vehicle, are you hooking the ground clamp to the battery in your truck, or to the motor somewhere?

If you are hooking to the motor, you are by-passing the normal ground wire from the battery.

I suspect you have a bad ground at the motor. The ground wire is heating up from resistance caused by the poor connection at likely the motor end. If this is the factory ground wire, it should be plenty heavy to take the load required of it to start the truck.

Something to look at, anyway.

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Bona Fide diesel fanatic.
1994 Chev S10 Ext Cab Isuzu Diesel 5spd
Kubota B6100 HST diesel