So my band mates and I own a 2002 Dodge Ram Wagon (15 passenger) with ~130k miles on it. Bought it 2 years ago with 106k. We’ve had a slew of problems with it ranging fro brakes to radiator to electrical problems. We are often on the road for 4-6 hours straight (sometimes more) and we typically drive it above the speed limit on the freeway because we need to be somewhere. So lately while driving the check gauges light will come on suddenly and the alternator/battery gauge is maxed out, which lasts a few minutes and then returns to normal. Im wondering if this is something indicative of a potential alternator issue or merely just the van working hard and having some sort of power fluctuation momentarily. There’s typically no issue in starting the engine or anything like that, and we actually had the alternator belt blow out about 6 months ago and we replaced the battery probably a year or so ago, so the whole system should be pretty new and in good shape. any help is greatly appreciated!
Could be a problem with corrosion in the battery cables… Very difficult to diagnose a very intermittent problem…
“alternator/battery gauge is maxed out” ? is that a voltmeter or an ammeter? maxed out exactly how?
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Could be just a bad connection in the gauge cluster, giving a fluctuating reading when no fluctuation actually exists. Or the gauge could be accurate, in which case something in the car is drawing a lot of power, like maybe the battery isn’t properly secured and moving around and shorting out against the chassis. In normal driving conditions, even if you are speeding a little on the freeway, the charging system shouldn’t be overly taxed. So there’s something wrong, but hard to say whether it is an actual problem or not via the internet. An auto-electrical specialist could probably figure it out without too much trouble.
“we actually had the alternator belt blow out about 6 months ago and we replaced the battery probably a year or so ago, so the whole system should be pretty new and in good shape”
Translation as I see it . . . the serpentine belt and battery were replaced recently
But the alternator was not, because there’s no mention of that
How old is the battery?
Has it been tested?
Has the charging system been tested?
Battery + serpentine belt does not equal “whole system”
:grimace: