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Joe
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
6/26/2005
02:05:50
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 Subject: Battery\Alternator OK, car keeps dieing!
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Message:
Problem:
While driving, battery volt meter on dash reads about 14. When Idling it drops to about 10-11 and holds. Then when I drive again, it picks up to 14. When city driving requires excessive idling, it no longer holds at 10-11 but slowly drops lower and lower. Turning off AC\head lights, and radio helps but does not completely fix problem. Eventually, the car begins to crank slowly when I try to start it and then finally will not even start due to low battery.
Test results In Car:
Battery: Wal-mart says bad, autozone says looks ok.
Alternator: Wal-mart says bad, autozone says bad.
Test results out of car:
Battery: Autozone\O'Reilly say good but slightly low (took 15 minutes to reach full charge).
Alternator: Autozone\O'Reilly say good.
So, Where do I start looking next?
I have a 97 dakota cc 318. It has K&N cold air, 2.5" shorty headers, 3" exhaust w\flowmaster, TB spacer, nothing that should affect battery juice that I can think of.
I am not a mechanic and do not know what to try next to fix the battery problem. Maybe a short?
Also, I used to have a hypertech power programmer III on this truck but it stopped working when the battery died because of the same issue. Is it possible the computer is not targeting the correct voltage? If so, would flashing the computer back to stock possibly fix this problem?
What next???
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Manny
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
6/26/2005
02:22:37
| RE: Battery\Alternator OK, car keeps dieing!
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Message:
How long has it been doing this?
How many miles on the alternator?
Does the battery keep its charge while the vehicle sits overnight, or does the charge slowly drain away?
Walmart and autozone say bad alternator? Did they tell you why they thought it was bad?
Is there a Sears Auto shop nearby? They're usually pretty good at this sort of thing, in my experience, anyway.
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.boB
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
6/26/2005
03:19:53
| RE: Battery\Alternator OK, car keeps dieing!
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Message:
Check all your cables. Battery cables can often corrode inside the insulation and cause this to happen. Be sure and check both ends of the cables, although the problem is usually near the battery. While you're at it check all connectors near the alternator for corrosion.
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ticats
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
6/26/2005
08:19:43
| RE: Battery\Alternator OK, car keeps dieing!
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Message:
Battery voltage should show more the 10 -11 at idle. At those numbers, the computer will generally throw a fit. When driving and battery voltage is showing about 14, it generally means that the alternator is working and charging the battery.
How long have you had the battery?
ticats, ontario, canada
97 Dak CC Sport, 5.2L, 44RE, race weight 4,180lb, pb 13.76 @ 99.65
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Kowalski
GenIII
6/26/2005
08:36:09
| RE: Battery\Alternator OK, car keeps dieing!
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Message:
I agree with ticats - why do you think your battery is OK if its showing low voltage like that ? The PCM won't like the low voltage; no flash is going to change that.
Lead, follow, or get out of the way
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daddio
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
6/26/2005
09:41:50
| RE: Battery\Alternator OK, car keeps dieing!
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Message:
if the battery are infact good, next i'd check all connections + and - then possibly the voltage reg in the pcm would be going bad.
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Armin
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
6/26/2005
12:06:01
| RE: Battery\Alternator OK, car keeps dieing!
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Message:
Ticats and Daddio are right on. A dead battery with low voltage will cause the PCM to go bonkers. If the battery's old and won't hold a charge, change it. It happened to me. I thought the damn thing was possesed. It can sneak up all of a sudden. If a fresh battery doesn't fix it. I'd look at the alternator or voltage regulation problems with the PCM.
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Joe
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
6/26/2005
13:31:15
| RE: Battery\Alternator OK, car keeps dieing!
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Message:
The vehicle has had this problem since I bought it about a year ago but it was never very apparent until now because I just moved into the city and now I spend a lot of time idling in traffic, etc.
The battery seems to keep charge over night.
I do not think it is the original alternator and would guess that it has about 30-40,000 miles on it.
The battery is fairly new, probably no more than 30-40,000 miles on it as well. It is one of the gold battery's from Autozone. I did notice that it is not quite big enough to fill up the battery pan in my truck. Maybe I should have a bigger battery?
Again, the battery\alternator tested bad IN the car but tested good OUT of the car. In the car the alternator was not putting out enough juice but out of the car it tested fine on two machines.
Because the battery testd good OUT of the car, my next step will be to check all connections and then look into the voltage regulator?
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Armin
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
6/27/2005
11:51:05
| RE: Battery\Alternator OK, car keeps dieing!
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Message:
If the battery is fairly new, it should hold a charge. The next step would be to verify the charging system. If you say that the alternator tests OK outside the car, then it sounds like a regulation problem with the PCM because of the fluctuations in voltage when running. However, I don't know if the external check would account for the voltage regulation that the alternator receives from the PCM. It probably needs a full system check from a competent garage.
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