RTH - Broke down on side of road.

[tacoduck]

Why not swap a new battery in it for 150 dollars and see if it solves your problem. I’m always astonished why people with low voltage don’t do this, especially while on a road trip...

 

[PDoyle]

Can't have a weak battery with these trucks. Every 3-4 years get a new one....

 

[TeCKis300]

Hopefully we'll hear back as to the issue.

I do not believe the battery was at fault here. Changing it would not have solved his problem.

 

[PDoyle]

But.... curious,does low voltage cause it?

 

[TeCKis300]

It's a good question. Whenever I've heard of an actual battery issue, there's generally not a "low voltage" warning. Nor was there a battery indicator MIL light noted. Not saying it's not possible. Seems to be this is a subsystem specific issue. I'm speculating too without specific error codes.

 

[RET2]

Immobilizer or remote start malfunction? Pretty much a WAG without more info. Hopefully OP follows thru with repair info.

 

[tacoduck]

It's a good question. Whenever I've heard of an actual battery issue, there's generally not a "low voltage" warning. Nor was there a battery indicator MIL light noted. Not saying it's not possible. Seems to be this is a subsystem specific issue. I'm speculating too without specific error codes.

dude, 99 times out of 100 it’s the battery or the alternator.

 

[mark71]

Enough power to turn over motor and start but not enough to keep running?

That doesn’t sound right.

 

[tacoduck]

Enough power to turn over motor and start but not enough to keep running?

That doesn’t sound right.

when my wife's 100 died it would crank, idle for 30 seconds and die. lights on the dash like a christmas tree. it was the alternator.

 

[TeCKis300]

It's a good guess, and your guess is as good as mine based on the limited info. If it's the alternator, changing the battery would be superfluous other than getting him out of the immediate bind only to fail again 30 minutes down the road. I believe an alternator failure would be indicated by a battery MIL light on the dash.

 

[tacoduck]

It's a good guess, and your guess is as good as mine based on the limited info. If it's the alternator, changing the battery would be superfluous other than getting him out of the immediate bind only to fail again 30 minutes down the road. I believe an alternator failure would be indicated by a battery MIL light on the dash.

LOL he got a low voltage signal and the actual reading is 12 volts. thats too low.

 

[TeCKis300]

LOL he got a low voltage signal and the actual reading is 12 volts. thats too low.

You must think I'm new to this debugging thing.

Your telling the dude to replace his battery. If the car starts, the battery has done it's job. It will be running on the alternator at that point. Which replacing the battery will not likely resolve.

 

[radman]

I miss the good old days. I can use a battery to start my '95 Grand Cherokee and then remove it to indefinitely drive with only the alternator. I don't recall why I needed to do that, but it was awesome.

 

[PDoyle]

Not sure who mentioned it but it's a real good idea to attach charger cables to the battery and be able to get to them. FYI.

 

[Moby]

Enough power to turn over motor and start but not enough to keep running?

That doesn’t sound right.

Yes, per my previous post enough juice to turn over the engine but when the alt doesn't kick the voltage up after 15-30 seconds the system shuts down. A car can run with a dead/dying battery but not a dead alt. Just don't turn it off

This:

when my wife's 100 died it would crank, idle for 30 seconds and die. lights on the dash like a christmas tree. it was the alternator.

Seen these same symptoms as well. My only hesitation is that 50k seems young for an alt to die unless there are other factors that led to an early demise.

Of course running on a dying alt could also kill the battery by forcing it to make up the difference. If it is the alt and the battery isn't new(which soumds like the case) I might replace both for peace of mind.

 

[Rigger]

It will be interesting to see how this resolves.

My mechanic recommended a new battery in my 200 a while back. The truck was exhibiting no adverse conditions. I took his advice because of stories like this one.

 

[Jeriel Guerrero]

What year, and are you running an HKB Diode?

does the ALT-S diode mod do premature damage to our alternators?

 

[bloc]

It will be interesting to see how this resolves.

My mechanic recommended a new battery in my 200 a while back. The truck was exhibiting no adverse conditions. I took his advice because of stories like this one.

How old was yours? and do you remember which brand?

 

[hkeller]

Well, I got a call from the mechanic yesterday. You won't believe what he found. There was a round rubber gasket of some sort that got sucked into the throttle body and had wedged the throttle body valve wide open. I have not seen it yet, as I am still traveling, but he said he kept it for me. They can't figure out where it came from, but it runs and drives fine with it removed.

I would have never guessed it would have been something like that. Had I known, I could have fixed it myself.

Any ideas where it might have come from? I'll post a pic next week.

 

[Docboy]

Well, I got a call from the mechanic yesterday. You won't believe what he found. There was a round rubber gasket of some sort that got sucked into the throttle body and had wedged the throttle body valve wide open. I have not seen it yet, as I am still traveling, but he said he kept it for me. They can't figure out where it came from, but it runs and drives fine with it removed.

I would have never guessed it would have been something like that. Had I known, I could have fixed it myself.

Any ideas where it might have come from? I'll post a pic next week.

Good and honest mechanic!

How the heck did the mechanic know how to look for this obstruction?