Taco suddenly struggling to start suddenly?

One of the things I've always liked about my taco is the fervor with which is usually comes to life. But the other day, I went to start it up and it turned over slowly, with a lazy whine. I looked around, and figured maybe I left a light on in the cab or something. Driving around will recharge the battery. After a few miles, it does it again. Weird..... So i went a quarter mile down the road, and at the light I turned it off to see if it would do it again... this time I it barely started! It gave me the clicking solenoid sound and wouldn't turn over. I had to turn the a/c off, the lights and the radio, wait a couple seconds, and then it barely turned over.

I've driven it a little bit, and although it hasn't been as bad as that one time at the light, it still is turning over slowly.... It's weird that this developed literally over night.


Could it just be the battery, or something more? Is there a way for me to test the battery?

 

Yes. Use a multimeter and check voltage. Then while a buddy cranks check voltage.

 

It's new battery time.

 

how many ohms or whatever should it have?

I'll be glad if it's the battery and not the starter or the alt.

 

Ohms is the measure of resistance. You want volts, truck running should be around 14 volts or so.

 

For battery @ 20 degrees Celsius or 68 degrees Fahrenheit and 20 minutes after key removed with lights off.

12.6-12.8 V - Fully Charged
12.2-12.4 V - Half Charged
11.8-12.0 V - Discharged

 

Thank you man.

Anyone have any idea how many miles in normally takes the charging system to fully charge a discharged battery?

 

It's not how many miles but how long. It depends on the battery and your alt output but you need to drive for at least 20 min to give most batteries a reasonable charge depending on the type of driving and number of accessories running at the time.

 

Haha, just realized I did that. That's what happens when you write half a title, get detracted, go do something, come back to your computer and go "oh yeah, that's what I was doing".

 

sounds like your engine is done, son!!!

 

Autozone can test yo battery for free yo.

 

Clean the conections on your starter. My '95 PreTaco does this from time to time.
Yank the big wire clean the conections slap it back on and you're good to go.

 

Classic battery sympton. Needs a battery for sure.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbeR6uYxU50

 

Try and find a date sticker on your battery, usually they're 00-00 (month-year) If it's 4+ years old, safe to assume you need a new battery.