Calgary Jeep Association
4x4 Related Groups => Tech Talk => Topic started by: streetvan1 on January 20, 2012, 07:08:54 PM
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Hi. I'm back in the jeep game, after a bit of a break. My 96 grand cherokee, 4.0 litre, all stock so far, started having greif starting in the cold. I replaced the battery, as it was pretty old, and was losing charge when it sat for 2 or 3 days.
Then, about a week after replacing the battery, I started having some grief with an intermittent no charging issue (according to the guage, anyway). I couldn't ever catch it in the act to see if the voltage was actually falling off, or if it's just a guage thing. I replaced the alternator with a new bosch unit just to be safe, as I do take it on some pretty long highway trips - and the fault is still present!
Every once in a while, the guage will drop to the bottom, and the check guages light will come on. This can happen when sitting at a light, or when driving around the city. It can go on for over a minute, or sometimes clears itself up within a few seconds. By the time I pull over and pop the hood, it's back up again! I've been driving around for the last week with a voltmeter on the passenger seat, just waiting to test it, but no luck. Any suggestions?
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Are there any high load accessories on such as heater or wiper when this happens?
Does reving the engine make a difference?
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The heater was on every time it occured, intermittently the lights would be on too. Turning stuff off and changing engine rpms made no difference. It would always go back to normal after about 20 or 30 seconds. Now that it's been warm, it won't do it anymore! Seems to be below -20 only thing, so I'm ignoring it for now.
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I'm thinking one of the contacts at the back of the gauge cluster is losing contact, however, my experience usually results in all the gauges cutting out. Easily fixed by removing the cluster and cleaning the electrical contacts on the back. (I use spray on electrical contact cleaner from The Source and a cotton swab) It certainly fixed my problem. Have you tried giving the top of the dash a bang with your fist when it cuts out? If you do that and the gauge jumps back up then it could be the contacts.
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My 1500 does something similar around -30. I just ignore it and pretend its normal for dodge.
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My 1500 does something similar around -30. I just ignore it and pretend its normal for dodge.
Whaddya mean "pretend"? It's a Chrysler product ;D