95 dodge ram 1500 v6 manual transmission voltage dips
Asked by Tim Aug 23, 2017 at 02:57 AM about the 1995 Dodge RAM 1500 LT LB RWD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
So as stated in the title when ever I come to a stop or give it gas
and let it idle its rough, the voltage dips but then comes back
pretty quickly. Any ideas as to why? My posts are clean, I ran new
negative and positive wires to the battery but didn't change
everything.
6 Answers
oldcarpenter answered 6 years ago
Do you know what your voltage "dips" down to and what it comes back up to? Have you put a meter to it?... When the voltage comes back up, does the rough idle smooth out? When you put the new battery cables on did you change the battery terminal also? I had a very similar issue with a ford truck and I chased it all the way back to a bad battery terminal....and battery post....the battery post and terminal both were pitted and was getting an intermittent issue such as yours....food for thought
My average voltage is around 14 and when it dips it dips down to about 12.5 volts. Yes the idle smooths out. I did put new terminals when I changed the wires. I didn't look very closely at the posts though. Maybe I should check them. Also the battery is from 2014 so maybe its just getting old.
oldcarpenter answered 6 years ago
I would check voltage at the battery post....then at the battery terminal that's how I found the voltage issue with the ford... I had correct voltage at the battery terminal but not at the post...even though it was connected....Check this site it may help... troubleshootmyvehicle.com...
Question. If it is my post because I just remembered I used a wire wheel and a drill to clean it which was probably a bad idea, how would I fix it? Use a standard terminal wire brush?
oldcarpenter answered 6 years ago
I think the wire wheel was ok but can't be positive.....I would do all the tests I mentioned and see if there is a voltage issue...if not a voltage issue, I'm not sure what else with out being able to see it for myself....hope I was able to help. let me know how the voltage tests were...
Yeah you've given me a place to start. I did voltage tests and sure enough different voltages on the posts and terminals so I took the terminals off and I think the wire wheel did some damage and there was some pitting so I used a basic post wire brush and cleaned up the pitting. Put everything back together and voltage was finally the same across the posts and terminals. But I was still getting the voltage dip issue. Some more tests later and I now know my alternator is failing. The voltage fluctuations my mpg is going down and voltage never gets over 14 volts even on a rev up
