What settings to run engine off battery charger?

[James]

Hi all, first post here but been a Youtube fan for a while now!

My alternator and crankshaft pulley are currently off after replacing a leaky water pump. I really want to test everything to make sure the leak is fixed before I go to the effort of putting all that stuff back on. I tried running off battery alone but it died before it got to a cooling cycle. So I borrowed a battery charger and I am hoping to run the engine for like 20 minutes off the charger and look for leaks.

It has 3 modes:
– charge/maintain – 6<>2 amp
– boost – 10 amp
– start – 50 amp

Which mode should I use for running the engine? Boost?

edit: by the way it’s a 1991 Toyota Camry 4-cylinder

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

Ok, let me try to understand what you want to attempt….
Are you saying you want to run your motor without the alternator and have a battery charger hooked up as a “poorman’s” alternator to keep the battery up?
If this is what your planning..
My advice is… DON”T!!!
Your looking to cause all sorts of electrical issues in your car.
A battery charger was meant for and designed to charge a battery..
Not act as a half measure alternator.

A smarter suggestion is to rent a radiator pressure tester and pressurize the system to look for any leaks.

[James]

Yes you understand correctly. Got similarly harsh reply in another forum too, LOL. Pressure tester is a good idea, thanks.

[Frank Heiser]

Was the battery fully charged when you tried just running off the battery? I drove a car for well over an hour with no alternator belt in it, and there was still enough juice left at the end of the trip to start the engine again when I needed to move the car.

Personally, I would charge the battery and then start the engine, then attach the charger clamps to the battery, set it to boost mode. The charger should just think the battery is particularly discharged. Any good charger won’t allow itself to be harmed by current draw, etc.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Do not try and run the engine in that state. It’s really not necessary. Check all your marks and put it back together. Also check the battery as suggested. If it runs, great, if it doesn’t you got it apart before, you can get it apart again.

I don’t mean to come off negative. It’s just that what you’re attempting just isn’t necessary.

Good luck.

[Mark]

Do you have a compressor?
just find a way to plug the compressor to the coling systhem and check for air leaks.

what i did in my car when i changed the water pump was to take the old colant resivoir plug out made a hole on it and with an old iner tube valve, i bolted the towo togeder in order to create a tigth fit then i put the plug in the resivoir and conected the air presure gaige to it. 👿

[Joseph C]

Any fully charged battery should run an engine for the “RC,” or Reserve Capacity, length of time. I’ve had enough bad alternators and been too broke to know this.

Never heard of a battery that didn’t have a Reserve Capacity of at least 90 minutes..

And. Another piece of info, “I LEARNED THIS FROM HACKS THAT DON’T NECESSARILY CARE ABOUT YOUR CAR” but I’ll out it out there: I know more now… : A car should still run when you take the negative cable, or both (negative first..) off. Though that’s probably putting electrical components at high risk, depending on the car. Use extreme caution but if you take it off and engine dies.. bad alternator.

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[Author]

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