Brendan

When I start my truck cold for the first 5 minutes something cycles on and off which causes the all the lights to dim and the voltmeter to drop down below the "safe" line. Any Ideas?

JonnysDodge

Mine does the same thing. I need some help here, also when I start it up it is around the 12 volt mark, then i cycles up and down. But it happens when I drive as well, even when I am cruising down the highway, my lights flicker. Had the alternator rebuilt because I thought that was the problem, but it keeps doing it. Could use some advice as well. Thanks.

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'97 4x4, #100 plate, auto, DTT tranny, 168k, kdp soon do be dead...

wilderness

It's your grid heater, everyone's does it. Go to the help forum and read the first post. I plug mine in when it's below 40 for about three hours (I have a timer) and the grid heater only cycles maybe once. By the way it's not a problem.

JonnysDodge

Wilderness, I plug mine in all night, I live in Idaho. It gets pretty cold at night the other night it got down to 12, but the problem is that mine cycles 5-6 times at least, but then it starts to flicker as I am rolling down the road..

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'97 4x4, #100 plate, auto, DTT tranny, 168k, kdp soon do be dead...

wilderness

Are you sure your cord is ok on your block heater? A week ago I started pluging mine in and the first 2 mornings it started the same as if I had'nt plugged it in at all. So I unscrewed the cord from the block ( it's right under the oil filter if you did'nt know, you can unscrew it with your fingers) and did an ohm test an the plug end was bad. I just used one of thoose screw down replacement plugs for now until I do the bumper mount.

wilderness

I forgot to ask if your voltage ever stops acting up or does it always do that?

JonnysDodge

Always does it, no matter how long I run the truck, I went 3 hours and it still did it.. Don't know what else is wrong.

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'97 4x4, #100 plate, auto, DTT tranny, 168k, kdp soon do be dead...

wilderness

The relay for the grid heater could be bad. Mine flickers for a bit but then levels off. I don't know what gives the heater the signal to kick on, if it's the temp sensor or the pcm? I would bet that it has something to do with the heater or the grounds. A bad ground does strange things.

JonnysDodge

Thanks I will check the grounds.

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'97 4x4, #100 plate, auto, DTT tranny, 168k, kdp soon do be dead...

JonnysDodge

Hey Wilderness, I checked all the grounds and they are cleaned and grounded. But the lights are still flickering the same. Any other suggestions?

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'97 4x4, #100 plate, auto, DTT tranny, 168k, kdp soon do be dead...New 4" exhaust, and cold air intake...Guages, EGT only, Boost is next.

wilderness

I was thinking about it last night and our trucks have a air temp sensor located in between the top of the fuel filter and the intake manifold. That sensor tells the pcm when to cycle the heater on and off. So that would be my first test. I'm not sure if it would be ok to unplug it and run the truck to see if the voltage changes. Find out how much the sensor is first, if it is something cheap enough to replace I would swap it. But if it's too pricey, find out what the voltage should read from the sensor and test it.

Was your truck running like this before the cold snap?

JonnysDodge

Nope it ran great.

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'97 4x4, #100 plate, auto, DTT tranny, 168k, kdp soon do be dead...New 4" exhaust, and cold air intake...Guages, EGT only, Boost is next.

Geico266

Check your batteries before you start your truck. If they are below 12.5 volts you need one of these to perk them up. Regular battery charger don't work.

http://www.vdcelectronics.com/