My TC is Cycling

[garylmoore]

I purchased this truck in Portland Oregon about a year and a half ago and just started having the Torque Converter Cycling Problem.
If I swap my Bosch Alternator with a New Denso am I going to have problems with fit? Will the bracketing that that came on my Bosch fit the Denso? I would rather have the Denso for easier rebuilds and diode changes.
Thanks.. Gary

 

[KATOOM]

Cycling torque converter is usually signs of excessive AC voltage from the alternator. Replacing the alternator doesnt always fix the problem depending on the condition of the entire charging system and wiring and corrosion. Here's a great write up explaining whats going on. https://mopar1973man.com/cummins/ar...ter-issues-and-alternator-noise-testing-r388/
And just to point out that most, if not all, auto parts stores will not test nor care about AC output. You'll have to test yourself. The best alternator I found for the money was Nations 180 amp with hairpin winding and 12 diodes.

 

[glmoore001]

Hello Katoom.
I had checked my alternator for AC voltage earlier this year and I was at the high limit (.05? .07? vac), but I had no problems with cycling until yesterday.

I believe you and I talked about this before. I saw the company name in an old post and I bought this one yesterday:

https://www.nationsstarteralternato...t-Alternator-for-Dodge-Ram-p/13874-180-hp.htm

I did not really trust Ebay "New" to be new and a New Denso was the same price at the auto parts stores so why not?
Batteries and battery cables have been replaced with new and all grounds have been cleaned, hopefully the alternator will take care of the problem.
I pulled the drivers side battery tray to work on a broken CC vacuum line and the battery temp switch was broken, so I replaced that also. Not much left to do on the charging system.
I read the article above yesterday.. good stuff. TC Cycling was the bane of my existence with my last Ram.

I have another new thread going on which may be an overboost situation giving me fits, two problems with very similar symptoms. When the cycling popped up yesterday, it took a little head scratchin to figure out there were two different problems.

 

[BMelhuish]

Gary:

It's not always the alternator. It can be any number of "other things" too. Primarily, that would be grounds to the battery, engine block and PCM. I've been through a number of alternators that tested bad (by me). So, I went with new Autozone for the replacement warranty. However, what I usually found was that one of my batteries was going bad. You'll need to reset the APPS when you're done.

Hope this helps.

 

[rotohead]

Do this simple, cheap fix that will take you about a hour or so and you'll never have a issue again. Promise.

https://mopar1973man.com/topic/14409-w-t-ground-article-simplified/
,
You need to separate the ground wires away from the alternator charge wire. They cross in the wiring bundle that runs in the front of the engine over the alt. Bad design by Dodge. It won't cost you more then $10 in wire and connectors, replace the loom and maybe a circuit breaker ($30) from the alt charge wire to the passanger battery. Long term it will also save your ECU, PCM and circuitry on your VP44.

 

[DavidC]

You can also try this
https://www.turbodieselregister.com/threads/dtt-transmission-issues.266814/
Cheap and easy

 

[Parch]

I had the same issue with my 98.5 and I tried all the above, the one thing that fixed mine was a noise isolator... it's just a capacitor. I got mine on amazon, I was sceptical but it's been installed for eight months and no problems since.

BD Diesel Performance 1300030 Noise Isolator Amazon product ASIN B003LFPY5M