98 dodge durango charging issues
18 Answers
What voltage are you getting from alternator when car is running?
How would I know when gauge work it was showing charge then drop halfway
Put voltmeter leads on battery while it is running. Put it in V mode. At idle and at 2K Rpms. You should get 13.5 - 14.8 in that range. If you get battery voltage you have an issue either with alternator, a relay or fuse or wiring. Wiring includes grounds and corrosion.
That is what I am saying I've been down the list cable ends alternatr good battery good,check wires to starter and fuses
Doing this test shows if the "new" alternator is supplying the correct power back to the battery. Was it installed correctly? Do you have high resistance wires between the battery and alternator? Are your grounds good? Is the belt slipping on the pulley creating less voltage? Did you get a defective alternator? Just because it is new doesn't mean it is good. Testing a failed system is important to getting to your end result if you want it fixed.
After that then determine if battery is accepting a charge. A battery with a bad cell will not charge correctly and give you starting success. Has battery been load tested? How old is it?
Are you sure you tested all fuses and relays in all fuse boxes for your vehicle? Some of these are hidden well. I have encountered this more than I can remember about thinking I had checked all a customers fuses or they told me they did and I found another box of 30 fuses and relays under seats, in trunk behind dash, behind glove box. And are all the slots in each fuse box getting power? With the age of your vehicle it is possible to have corrosion in and under the box or wires that look good but are broken. All this requires testing to eliminate each possibility.
Many cluster fuses are in box behind dash from your description of cluster not working.
K battery been checked an alternate fuses been checked but the big relays how you do that
How to correctly test a relay by Ratchets and Wrenches on YouTube. Better watching than me confusing you explaining. https://youtu.be/ire7vyDqelg
Why door lock want work with cranked but turn off an the will work
Too low of voltage to run other things in car while it is running. This is an obvious issue. If you got the correct volts on battery while car was running, are you sure you bought the correct amperage alternator? I would also check all your ground wires. Body grounds, engine grounds, grounds on your alternator, any fusable links. Something is zapping your alternator power once it is generated. Clean contacts...sand or grind them to bare metal if necessary, no rust connections
I have seen where a rusted nut on an alternator connection point was a significant voltage drop affecting electrical functions in car.
Another good video for you to watch is by Chrisfix. How to test an alternator. Don't be fooled by the title because it shows how to test all these ground points and what the voltage drop should not exceed.
Could the control panel be gone out
Do you mean the PCM (main computer)! I was thinking that also because some vehicles the PCM does control alternator output. Please for your financial sake, do all the other tests and eliminate them before going after the PCM. This is not cheap and requires reflashing to get it to work with your VIN. Very rarely can you find one with a certain VIN digit that will work with yours. It is very rare almost impossible.
Are you talking about the cluster? Yes I thought this also. But not sure it would cause your charging issue unless you have two issues going on.
I’m having this exact same problem two alternators checked everything all relays checked him hell and I even jumped him is anybody figured this out O.p