i'm sorry this is not about a f150 but i figured it would get read the most here, my lil bro's 96 taurus' battery keeps going dead, nothing is getting leaft on and we had the batt. and alternator checked on monday, it says 14 volts and 3.8 amps w/ no load and 14 volts and 1.8 amps w/ a load, and the batt is good but it was dead again today, should the alternator be puttin out more amps to charge the battery?

 

Who checked the battery?

 

my dad and bro took it to advance auto, i believe, some woman came out and checked it, basically just told them what the machine said

 

Uh oh, a woman did it. Ask for a man.

 

ive been through this....... you should make sure the battery is charged ... unhook it completly... and let it set over night.....see if it goes dead.... when i bought my 08 the battery was bad... and every battery tester said itw as good... i left it unhooked and it still went dead... ford finally changed the battery under warrenty after them have it 4 different times.... and had it 2 weeks the last time and i told them to put a new battery on it and if it didnt fix it i would pay for the battery..... and it fixed it so they turned it into ford as a warrenty battery....

 

To test it properly they have to put it on charge for an hour. Your battery can still have 12 volts with a few dead cells.

 

If you are not sure as to a weak battery or a draw from the vehicle, You can try this with a decent volt/ohm meter: remove the positive cable, set the meter to amps and on a scale of 10 amps. Place red probe on the battery cable, the black to the battery post. This will tell you (reading the meter) if you have something in the car drawing current. Then remove one fuse at a time and re-install. When the meter shows no draw (when fuse is removed), you've located the circuit drawing the battery down. Check your owners manual to see what the fuse protects (I.E. lights or cigarette lighter, etc.).