As of late... and by that I mean the last two weeks or so... my truck has been charging very oddly. When you start it in the morning the battery guage stays down and has so little power that when I turn on my signal lights my CD deck turns off. Keep in mind I'm not drawing power in any other way, shape or form(ie. Amp, subs, etc). When I got my transmission done I had OD and this little current issue seemingly has had an effect on this considering it doesn't work as of now. However when the guage says the truck is charging low she'll kick into OD but when the guage does go up to normal(yes it does eventually charge accordingly once the truck runs for awhile) the OD kicks out. Also a few other symptoms are when you turn on the truck in the morning all the lights in the dash flash and a rythmic click follows that comes from a relay on the inner drivers fender. Finally, tonight when I hit the OD Off switch, the charge goes down but when it's off it goes back up. I THINK this is a new symptom so am I to conclude that the OD switch is toast?

BTW I've got a new battery today... old one was supposedly at 25% health as well as some new cable ends. I also ordered a new voltage regulater but haven't got it yet.

Any suggestions as to what might pinpoint my problem... I need a few opinions.

Mike

 

external regulator might work if not check the CPS ( crank position sensor. It tends to go bad. Make sure no wire has been fried in the charging system too. For a last resort get the alternator checked. Good Luck

 

So, it is getting cold up in New Brunswick? Like below 15 C, eh? It's just your grid heaters dragging the system down, the clicking you hear is from the heater relays. If your battery or cables are in poor condition I can see it making the stereo cut out. Mine does OK with the grids, headlights, wipers, and a turn signal - but my battery is only a year old.

Go read the sticky at the top of the "HELP!" forum for more info.

 

No , he has bigger problems than that dave , his battery is TOAST , and you should see the micky mouse setup someone has on it for the positive battery clamp.

I picked him up a 1200 CCA semi truck battery and a set of clamps at work , so that will solve that. But it still doesn't explain why the truck has fits where it won;t charge , tonight it got bad enough on the way home that the headlights were getting REALLY dim, BUT , the o/d worked flawlessly. once it finally started to charge again , the o/d went away , just like he said. the truck is fully warmed up at this point , it had been running for hours ( in temps just warm enough for me to wear a t shirt ... probably parka weather for you yankees) so i doubt that it could be the grid heaters.

He is going to put the new battery in , and the regulator , and if that doesn't fix the problem , i'll bring home my really nice DVOM from work and see if between me, him, a service manual, and a $300 DVOM we can't sort something out here. EH! ( you used eh in the wrong context btw , EH!)

 

Sounds like a classic POS (use imagination) internal voltage regulator mopar SBEC.