Can anyone please help. I don’t know anything about vehicles
2000 dodge Dakota
Well, how about some more information, for starters
What problems are you experiencing?
And we don’t know what your problems are.
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I’ve been threw 3 altenators in 2 years and 4 battery’s in the past 2 years. I’ve had a couple people work on the truck before who are mechanics in the past. About a week ago my boyfriend was driving home from work and the check gages light came on. He looked at the dash board and the battery gage dropped all the way down. Then suddenly the air bag light came on and the truck died completely. It’d start back up but then die every few mins. He finally got somewhere he could park it. A friend said it was the altenators and so he took it out and we took it to autozone and it passed 5 times when they tested it. So the friend put the altenator back in the truck and it worked for 1 day with no issues. Next day coming home from work same thing happened with the check gages and air bag lights then it died. So it’s been stuck for 3 days about 30 mins away. So today a different friend looked at it and tightened all wires and filled up the battery acid and it started right up. Starting driving it and same thing happened. Friend took positive cord off and it died. So now he wants us to get a new alternator. I’m tired of buying need altenators and batteries. Does anyone have an idea on what could be causing this?
Are your battery cables and connections all clean and tight?
Are all your fuses and fusible links associated with the charging system in good shape?
Does the accessory drive belt have sufficient tension?
Has anybody checked parasitic draw? If it’s too high, your alternator will be working overtime getting the battery back up to par, every single time you drive it.
“Filled up battery acid” . . . makes me think perhaps the battery is being cooked. If that is the case, the voltage regulator is often to blame. If so, you need an alternator
Question . . . did anybody actually perform a proper battery and charging system test, or were they just guessing?
Are you buying store brand alternators? I’ve had very bad luck with remanned store brand alternators. I’ve also had very bad luck with store brand new alternators. They will often/usually be cheap chinese.
This sounds like a 4.7L engine with a failing crankshaft position sensor. When the engine will not start do you get a “No Buss” message displayed in the odometer?
Connect a scan tool and read the faults in the PCM. There may not be any faults recorded but read the “Starts since erased” count, if it is near zero the crankshaft position sensor shorting is the likely problem.
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“I’ve had a couple people work on the truck before who are mechanics in the past.”
I suggest paying somebody who is CURRENTLY a mechanic to properly diagnose and repair the truck
No offense to anybody, but I’ve met so many people who used to be mechanics, or claim to have mechanics, and they no longer know which end is up, to put it bluntly
I bet many of the non-mechanics on this website could have done a better job diagnosing and repairing this. It goes without saying I believe the regulars on this website who are currently mechanics and shop owners would quickly get this truck sorted out 