Archived "Check Gauges" + "0 Volts" + Fault Codes

[Big Jon]

Hi guys,



About four minutes after a cold (40 F) start, and about a 1/4 mile out of my driveway as I was slowly accelerating, the warning chime sounded with the "Check Gauges" light lit up, and I found my voltmeter gauge to be pegged on the low side, as though it were reading 0 volts. Turned around, went home, and with the truck idling, checked battery voltage with my multimeter and found it at 14. 4 volts (which told me all should be well despite the gauge which still showed nothing). Shut the engine down and kept the ignition off for a minute, turned the ignition switch back to "on" and the voltmeter (on the dash) now showed about 10 volts. Started the truck and the voltmeter varied between 8 and 14 volts - as the grid heater cycled - normal so far as I could tell. Checked for codes and found under the PCU a 1682 and under the ECU a 1693.



I have 394 miles left on the bumper to bumper 36k warranty. What all do you guys think? I'm going to be out of town during the week for three months (or more) and will be hard pressed to get the truck to the dealer without flying back a day early one week. I looked up the codes, and there were no matches for 'em.



Should I park the thing and call the Chrysler warranty folks or ignore this as some sort of aberration?



Thanks,



Jon

 

[lmills]

1682 = charging system voltage too low.



1693= diagnostic trouble code detected in the PCM



The 1693 is a fault code that is set when the computer senses a problem somewhere. The 1682 is the actual problem. It might have just been the extremely cold weather had caused something with the alternator.

 

[Big Jon]

Thanks Imills for the code descriptions.



What throws me is before I shut the truck down, while the "Check Gauges" light was still illuminated and the dash voltmeter showing less than 8 volts (pegged to the left), my multimeter showed voltage at the battery terminals of 14. 4, which is what I would expect with the system charging not long after a cold start.



Just came back from another test drive and the dash voltmeter did seem to hang around 10 or 11 volts for a while longer than usual, than picked back up to just over 14 for the rest of the run.



I'm wondering if there is a loose connection to the instrument cluster -or wherever the PCM voltage reading is done at- because of the normal battery terminal voltage even when the dash was saying there was a problem.



Jon

 

[BarryG]

Mine did that once. Was driving down the road heard the dinger for the check gauges light and no voltage. Hurried home to check it out looked around under the hood no apparent reason. So after I restarted it no check gauges light voltage gauge showed to be normal. Hasn't done it since and that was about 30k ago.

 

[Briman]

Mine did that once too. I was about sixty miles from home and didn't dare shut it down. After I got home I restarted it and the problem was gone. That was 60K miles ago... .

 

[Ron Bissett]

Check for good ground this could cause problems and hard to find . Clean post and ground strap mounting scrape or sand under . Hope this helps . Ron in Louisville KY

 

[Briman]

Like I said, 60 thousand miles ago. I suspect that cold start, heated seats (SLT+), high fan speed, radio blasting, cold start grid, lights, etc, all contributed to a voltage drop that FRED (friggin Ridiculous electronic device) could not deal with. Battery voltage when I got home was 13. 6 (not running). I don't think a poor ground has anything to do with these one time events. IMHO.