well on my 93 i started it up today and know volts on the gauge gave it some fuel and it came up to about 3/4 full and then drop allmost all the way down did this for about 5 mins then i put it in gear and drove up to the house put it in park everything is fine! shut her off and then started it back up again everything is fine! was wondering if the alternator was bad cause once a week i will park it at the shop go to work get off work go to start and the darn thing is dead jump it and fires right up volts r fine everything is fine then out of the blue its dead again about a week later could it be a the altenator? if so where is a good place to get one?

 

Its the intake air heaters cycling. They will do this until the ambient temperature is 65 degrees or something like that. They take a lot of juice so you see it on the voltage guage. No worry.<br>Terry

 

Most auto places will have a tester to see if your Alt. is bad or not. Though the heaters should zap your voltage until it warms up, your truck should not be dead once a week or so. I would also check for any loose wiring going to the alt or battery.

 

I missed the part about jump starting. Sounds like a battery problem or something is drawing current when it is not being used.<br>Terry

 

I'd like to share my electrical problem &amp; solution. My alternator tach would jump around, the radio worked only if the blower fan was on, the turn signal indicators would come on dimly for no apparent reason. Turned out to be a bad chassis ground to the metal in the dash. I ran a thick wire to the negative of the battery terminal &amp; to a groung junction under the dash &amp; the problems all went away. I also had over-voltage coming from the alternator. It turned out to have an open in the wire that goes from the ingnition switch to the voltage regulator. I bypassed it with a new wire &amp; the voltage is now normal. Really frustrating when these problems surface when the boat is hitched up &amp; you're ready to head to the launch ramp. I still love the mileage on the Cummins &amp; some day hope to be able to afford a gen2 with a stick.

 

Who has a wiring diagram to use an old solid state voltage regulator in place of the PCM? Mine is starting to act up.<br><br>BTW, when you check your alternator, check it AT the alternator. Last year I had someone try to sell me an alternator because they checked it at the battery. The battery was charged and the regulator was doing it's job so it showed 12-13 volts when &quot;It should be 14-15 volts&quot;. We checked it at the alternator and everything was fine. The battery failed a load test and got replaced.

 

well i had it checked at napa cause i thought the battery was bad? during the summer cause it was doing this in the summer they said everything was fine! well i had it checked again last week and everything was still fine! all i can think is that since the wireing harness has been burnt twice which i failed to mention before! sorry and everything is running on to huge wires out of the main harness from the fire wall that something is touching some metal or is bare! back before the to main wires splice into the main harness on the fire wall. i dont want to start taking it apart do to the fact it took about 3 days to get it running the last time it burnt! not fun! Or ill have to check it where STEVIE G says on the alternator! where do u actually hook the tester to the alternator?