Charging problems?

[Makaio]

Hey guys,

Tried searching other posts to no avail. Several months ago, I was driving along and all of a sudden, the OD downshifts into 3rd, the speedo drops to zero and the A/C doesn't blow cold. I noticed the dash lights are dim and the volt meter is reading around 12-ish. I continued driving and later everything goes back to normal. The trans goes back into OD, the speedo registers and the A/C is blowing cold again and the voltmeter is back at 14. Was told my alternator is going bad. Without even testing it, I hastily buy one from Napa and install it. It was fine up until today. Same guy at Napa tells me I need a new voltage regulator so I buy one. I can't even find on my firewall and the salesperson at Napa couldn't either. He says his computer lists it for my truck and a picture shows its firewall location in my Chilton manual. Any ideas of what's causing irregular charging? According to the voltmeter, I'm running off the battery when this happens as it reads only 12 volts instead of the normal 14.

 

[1stgen4evr]

voltage

Your wondefull, lovely, overpriced, piece of sand and plastic called a computer is not doing what it is supposed to. The computer has controle of the voltage, the AC, the OD shift, speedo, and probably something else.



Your truck doesn't have a regulator but you can add one. You can disconnect the computer from the alternator and add a regulator from a Ford which is better than the Chrysler regulator. (friend of mine has put a Ford regulator on his 94) There are no wires for the regulator and you will have to do that. If someone you know has an 89 or 90 truck, you can steal their wire harness and throw out the computer. Those trucks have no computer and the regulator is located on the firewall next to the wiper motor. You can also check every connection and every wire that goes to and from the computer and you might find a bad joint or wire somewhere. I understand that you can get a rebuilt computer or you might find one in the salvage yard for less than the gouging you will get from Dodge. The regulator will not help the AC or the OD function. Search on, you can find the fix for those as well.



Good luck



James

 

[dodgenstein]

Sounds like a problem with the crankshaft position sensor. There is a plug right in front of the front valve cover with a harness that drops to the balancer area (believe it is round, about 1" dia. ). Pull this apart and clean the contacts and dielectric grease it. If this doesn't do it, check the gap between the sensor and balancer.

 

[1stgen4evr]

about your PM

Got your PM Matt. For the benefit of anyone who doesn't know, the computer is in that dark, sometimes damp, vaporus hidehole behind the battery. Read the post '93 charging problems' that is on the board now.



James