Yet another problem on the Dodge. We had very cold weather in PA this weekend. 5 degrees this morning. Ran the truck started up fine no problems, let it warm up ad drove it no issues. Parked it. Now took it out tonight and about a mile down the road the battery voltage guage went down to zero and CHECK GUAGES came on the dash. But this thing is it did not eem to lose any voltage the lights remained the same brightness and all the interior guages stayed fine along with the radio. Turned around and went back home. Pulled in the driveway and shut it off, turned the key back to ON and the battery guage went back up to about 10 on the battery level. Started up real fine. So I went down the road about 5 miles with no problems and grabbed dinner. After dinner went back out and the truck fired right up. About 2 miles from home the guage plunged down to zero again. But yet again it didnt seem to lose and voltage power. Pulled in the driveway and backed into the garage. Shut the truck down and turned the key to ON and yet again the battery level went back to about 10. Could it be a guage problem? Is there something I could test? Could it just be from the extreme cold weather that we never seem to have?


The truck is a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 24 valve


Chad

 

Check and see what codes set in the ECM.

 

 

Always the first step when you see the check engine light.

 

Is it gonna read a code because its not the check engine light that came on only Check Guages?

 

Eliminate a possible Ground Issue by running a set of jumper cables from the neg battery post to the engine pulling hook

 

K let me try that. If if the guage is readin no voltage shouldnt I lose the lights and AUX lighting like interior and radio etc?

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Anybody else got any ideas.... there are no engine codes.

 

You won't lose the lights or radio, if the alt took a crap the accessories will run off of the batteries untill they get completely drained. Might be your alt? A quick test I posted on another Alt thread here: You can test your alternator on the vehicle with a digital volt meter. Battery voltage with the engine off needs to be 12.5 to 12.6 volts (fully charged) when starting the test. Start the truck and let it idle and check the voltage at the batteries. It should be 13.5 to 14.5 volts. Start turning on loads such as the lights, blower motor, wipers, etc and it should stay at 13.5 to 14.5 volts. If it drops to less than 13.5 volts, you most likely have a bad alternator... To be sure though you can increase the engine RPM and see if it comes back, some alternators will not provide enough amperage at idle speed for the number of electrical loads you have turned on. If the battery voltage reads less than 13.5 volts, the alternator is bad.

 

Tested the voltage and determined to be the alt was going bad in this cold weather. Replaced it this morning and all is good now. Thanks for all the help .

Closing this thread