Shoutout to the old-timer who told me to check my grounds first before replacing the alternator

My buddy's '97 F-150 kept draining the battery overnight. I was about to swap in a new alternator (and a $180 part at that) when this retired mechanic named Hank from down the street stopped by. He said 'son, the ground strap is probably rusted to heck, check that before you throw money at it.' Sure enough, the strap from the block to the frame had almost completely corroded through. Cleaned it up with a wire brush, added a new $4 strap from AutoZone, and the truck's been fine for 3 weeks now. Has anyone else had a similar fix that felt too simple to work?

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uma68527d ago

Hank's the real MVP. Had a similar thing with my old Jeep, battery light was flickering like crazy. Ground cable to the engine block looked fine but the bolt was loose. Dirty trick is to grab a jump box and touch the negative to a clean spot on the block while the engine's running. If the battery light goes out, you found your problem.