Battery is dead. 97 5.2 I have battery charger hooked up to positive and negative posts in engine bay. Charger reads out 6.3v and when I select 15A charge, the read out is 6v 100% charged? Why does my charger think it is a 6v system?
No, the reason your battery charger thinks it is a 6V system is ... 1) The charger is a microprocessor driven design to accommodate both 6V and 12V systems. 2) It assumes that it is smarter than you and does not allow you to select which system. 3) It sees 6V and it assumes that it is hooked up to maintain a 6V system and calls that 100% charge and ramps the charging current to nothing. 4) It assumes that no one would be dumb enough to let the 12V battery dropped to below 6V before they call in a charger. Nevermind that it has nothing to do with being smart. To force it, fake it, be smarter than it and attach a 12V battery in parallel with your dead 12v-now-6v battery, and then attach the charger to that, and set it at 15A. Wait for an hour, and disconnect the 12V battery and let the charger charge up the bad battery to 13V.
Common problem in the Optima Red batteries I used to have. Your trick is how we saved them....it works.
