Archived 97 no electrical completely dead

[yooper]

It was 15 degrees yesterday. Started up normal, cycled intake heaters. Drove 20 miles to nearby town. Only thing I noticed was volt meter was charging higher than normal. 15V or higher, don't remember.



Ran some errands and shut off and started fine two times. I got to my brother's at 3:30p. I was leaving at 7:30p, opened door and no interior light. I thought the light button was froze in door jam. Tried key, nothing. Tried lights, nothing.



Neither one of us is a mechanic. Brother didn't have a volt meter. We check all of the big fuses in engine compartment and looked ok.



I have the shop manual and I have a mechanic friend to help me today.



Has this happened to anybody else and what should we look for first.



Thanks for any help.

 

[JFaughn]

Battery connections , both pos & neg , fusible links coming off drivers battery .
Then a lest light & probe around , if the charge indicator was high that would seem like the regulator was not seeing the battery , so it full fielded the alt .

 

[yooper]

My mechanic buddy thinks that one of my intake heater relays (look like solenoids) on the driver's side fender stuck closed. We don't know which one, because it unstuck.



Another buddy said they were expensive. Dealer part dept was closed. Also could it be the plug in relay for this circuit, which could be cheaper?



How do you determine which one it is, the plug in relay or one of the solenoid type relays? I hate paying the ******* more than he needs.

 

[JFaughn]

Almost any part is available from other than dealer / list price .
But test to fine the bad part , what a relay is generally for is a low current way to turn on a higher current load , so with a wiring diagram you can see if the relay is getting a signal to turn on the other circuit , 1 wire has to have voltage going in to close points inside to send out voltage for a higher current , so before looking for parts find the problem , its hard to give you a step by step what to do through the net , because it seems that many end up skipping a step / making a mistake , then any info may be wrong .
You may need to find someone that is a little better , because the connections at the relays / grid heater should not keep all power from everything / dome lite ect , so look closer to the battery , pos & neg , do not forget to check those connections at the other end , block / starter , this is where it reads like your problem is .

 

[GAmes]

Way back when I was in warranty I had a grid relay stick closed. It cooked both batteries and both of them deposited large amounts of battery acid in the engine compartment while my wife was inside a grocery store shopping. If one stuck closed while you were driving the voltmeter would go down, not up to 15 volts. The current draw would eventually kick the alternator off line, but would reset when shut off. If your batteries were not completely drained I believe you need to look for something other than the grid heater relays. If they are bad do a search. There are alternatives to the Dodge relay set.

 

[dseabaugh]

I think if I got this right last week when my Fuel solenoid snap up relay went out, there are two relays side by side in the center top of the firewall right up against the rubber gasket for the hood. the small one is the grid heater and the large one is the solenoid snap up solenoid. There is also a solenoid hold relay elsewhere. I got a new 70 amp relay ( much higher rating ) for $9. 50 from allied in tx. $%ealer wanted $85. 00 and still had to order it. Any possibility your alt was showing overcharge because of a bad or frozen battery?

 

[GAmes]

... ... ... . the small one is the grid heater ... .....

That is incorrect. There are two grid heater relays. They are mounted side by side on the fender liner below the drivers side battery. One of the small wires to each is constant hot. The other small wire is ground and is activated by the PCM. They can be easily inactivated by disconnecting either wire, which are push on by the way.

 

[yooper]

Thanks everyone for the help.



I printed this page and I'll give it to my mechanic friend.

 

[yooper]

We started it on Saturday with a partial charge and my booster pack(3000 cca). Drove it back home, 20 miles. Alternator was charging normal.



I don't think the batteries either froze or fried, because today, with wires from intake heater relays disconnected It took a full charge with 10 amp batt charger.



Temperture hasn't gone over 10 degrees today. I park it outside, but I use the block heater when it's below 25 degrees.

 

[yooper]

My truck is fixed. Mechanic installed a new set of Dodge intake heater grid relays ($60).



I started my truck 3 times the day I had the relay problem. They probably stuck on my last start, which was less than a 1/2 mile from my brother's house. After 4 hrs there my batt was dead. I'm glad it didn't fry my batt's.



Thanks again for everyone's help.