New 85 M1009 24V 6.2L owner starting issues?

[GunnyM1009]

I just bought It about two weeks ago. The Negative on the front battery goes to the lower block on the firewall the positive on the front battery goes to the negative on the rear battery and the positive on the rear battery goes to the top block on the firewall. My skill set is moderate I do not claim to be a mechanic but I am usually able to figue things out on standard vehicles but this thing has got me stumped the things I have already done would have fixed any issue with a standard 12V gasser

 

[GunnyM1009]

I do have a cheap multimeter which should work

 

[GunnyM1009]

I am getting 12.54 from the rear battery and 12.03 from the front battery 12.03 from the driver side alternator and 12.54 from the passenger side alternator

 

[FMJ]

I would take the batteries to a parts store and have them load tested if possible.

 

[GunnyM1009]

Its not the batteries I took the ones out of my wives car and my company truck earlier and it did the same thing with those.

 

[Warthog]

12.03v after a recharge tells me a bad cell in that battery.

 

[FMJ]

Can you connect the meter and have your wife try to start the truck? and note the voltage during the attempt to start

 

[GunnyM1009]

that is after test hitting the ignition several times today as well though

 

[GunnyM1009]

connect the multimeter where

 

[FMJ]

Positive post of the rear battery to a good engine ground

 

[GunnyM1009]

k will give it a shot

 

[GunnyM1009]

ok when she hit the key it jumped down to about 16 so what does that mean

 

[FMJ]

Ok, do it again, this time on the positive post of the front battery to the same engine ground you used before

 

[cpf240]

ok when she hit the key it jumped down to about 16 so what does that mean

That sounds like too large a drop to me. I would run the test again, taking a reading across each battery in turn. This is sort of a poor man's load test. If one drops much more than the other, then I'd suspect that battery has a bad cell.

 

[GunnyM1009]

Ok it was a bad front battery whoooooo got him going again hooked the jumps to the front battery and he fired up I did not think to just change one battery and apparently the two smaller ones from the other vehicles just did not have enough juice

 

[Warthog]

Without truely knowing the condition of your batteries, full charge and load tested, we are just guessing on how to help you.

 

[FMJ]

Good job!
That was going to be my next suggestion!

 

[Warthog]

And a bad battery strikes again. That is why we always say to check your batteries first. Never guess/assume they are good.

 

[GunnyM1009]

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions I was ready to give it up but I really love my M1009 his name is Gunny

 

[FMJ]

If the batteries are of the same manufacturer and have the same date code, replace them both.