Battery Voltage Low - With a slew of other issues too.

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TheEnder

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Tonight i got into my truck and went to go fill it up with a full tank of gas like i usually do every early friday morning. Driving back home i hear a ding and look in the evic to see “Battery Voltage Low” with a loud screaming from the engine, which i’m used to as this truck has always had a whine since new, but this was slightly louder than usual.

I check my scan tool, battery is at 11.98 volts with engine running and without brights on, with A/C fan (not engine e-fan) running.

Drive back home, truck seems to shift **** tons better than it did before (no flaring etc) and the truck seems to run smoother. I get home, park it, and the starter sounds like it’s dying. It’s INCREDIBLY high pitched, (this truck has never had a high pitched starter, it’s always been low pitched) and the engine cranks but only cranks to around 900RPM and then falls back down to around 700 instantly. Which is not normal for this truck, when warm the starting RPMs are around 1500 and then they settle to 900 and then you’re able to take off.

Leave it alone for 4 minutes, come back, crank it, everything’s fine. Starter sounds normal. I’m not driving it though as i don’t feel like being stranded.

I thought the whine was coming from the trans, but apparently it’s not. I had my brother rev the engine and the alternator sounds like it has like a bad bearing or something.

Vehicle is a 2013 RAM 1500 with the 4.7L V8.


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tidefan1967

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Tonight i got into my truck and went to go fill it up with a full tank of gas like i usually do every early friday morning. Driving back home i hear a ding and look in the evic to see “Battery Voltage Low” with a loud screaming from the engine, which i’m used to as this truck has always had a whine since new, but this was slightly louder than usual.

I check my scan tool, battery is at 11.98 volts with engine running and without brights on, with A/C fan (not engine e-fan) running.

Drive back home, truck seems to shift **** tons better than it did before (no flaring etc) and the truck seems to run smoother. I get home, park it, and the starter sounds like it’s dying. It’s INCREDIBLY high pitched, (this truck has never had a high pitched starter, it’s always been low pitched) and the engine cranks but only cranks to around 900RPM and then falls back down to around 700 instantly. Which is not normal for this truck, when warm the starting RPMs are around 1500 and then they settle to 900 and then you’re able to take off.

Leave it alone for 4 minutes, come back, crank it, everything’s fine. Starter sounds normal. I’m not driving it though as i don’t feel like being stranded.

I thought the whine was coming from the trans, but apparently it’s not. I had my brother rev the engine and the alternator sounds like it has like a bad bearing or something.

Vehicle is a 2013 RAM 1500 with the 4.7L V8.


Sent from RAM
I would take to the parts store and have everything checked(alternator/starter/battery) and go from there. As I recall you said that you had like 400K miles on it so any of those things could be the problem.
 

Ramrodd

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Yeah my 2009 had a whine from the engine and not to long after that it went out. But only when I was hauling my TT in BFE. So put an alternator on it and it should fix all these issues. Also check your battery to make sure it’s still good.


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TheEnder

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I would take to the parts store and have everything checked(alternator/starter/battery) and go from there. As I recall you said that you had like 400K miles on it so any of those things could be the problem.

Yeah, i’m gonna look at it tomorrow, and have it tested. Oh boy.


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TheEnder

TheEnder

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Does anyone know what regular voltage should be? I don’t think it’s 13.1V when on...


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TheEnder

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It’s 13.1V with the interior fan on, and it goes up to around 13.4 with the interior fan off.

edit: with lights on, and high beams it drops to 12.6.


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Ramrodd

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When engine is running it should be between 13 and 14 volts


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TheEnder

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Truck wont stay on with battery disconnected and the engine on. Time for a replacement alternator.


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Nick_rp

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Yeah, i’m gonna look at it tomorrow, and have it tested. Oh boy.


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I have some past experience with exactly what you describe. Turned out that the Alternator bearings were going out. The screeming was a mixture of the bad bearings and the belt running on the half seized pulley.

When the Alternator has worn bearings, it dosent rotate fast enough to keep up the load demand of the battery and it starts to drain.

If i were to start anywhere, id pull the belt and rotate the Alternator by hand. It should be relatively easy. If the bearings are on their way out you will feel resistance, clunking and other signs of bad bearings
 
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TheEnder

TheEnder

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I don’t think it is supposed to stay running.


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It is, and it has before. Back in 2017 my battery went bad completely, had to be jumped every time it started but it was able to run and drive fine with the battery disconnected, albeit i wasn’t going to push it.


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TheEnder

TheEnder

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I have some past experience with exactly what you describe. Turned out that the Alternator bearings were going out. The screeming was a mixture of the bad bearings and the belt running on the half seized pulley.

When the Alternator has worn bearings, it dosent rotate fast enough to keep up the load demand of the battery and it starts to drain.

If i were to start anywhere, id pull the belt and rotate the Alternator by hand. It should be relatively easy. If the bearings are on their way out you will feel resistance, clunking and other signs of bad bearings

I’m going to do that.


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Nick_rp

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I don’t think it is supposed to stay running.


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the alternator should be able to keep the engine going as long as the alternator hot wire is still connected to the battery cable. Some people will do this test and for one reason or another the hot wire is mounted separately from the terminal cable and they dont realize it and get a false negative.

The objective of the alternator is to maintain, not charge the battery so in theory it should produce enough output voltage to maintain a running engine without the battery.

The reason you pull the cables while its running is to get the amperage from the battery to actually start the engine.

That being said, its not something i usually do or recommend because pulling the cables could produce an arc flash that 1. Could damage the battery terminals or lugs and 2. Produce a huge voltage spike that could damage primary logic controllers, relays etc.

This method of troubleshooting was usually done on older vehicles but because of the fact everything is pretty much ran or monitered by electronics now, this method pretty much fell of the face of the earth unless you were taught it by an old school tech
 
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TheEnder

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Ordered another alt, i know that that’s been the issue i’ve been chasing all along now, i just wish i caught it sooner.

Battery voltage with lights on, brights on, and interior A/C blower: 12.6 Volts

Battery voltage with everything off except for the engine: 13.2-13.4, it fluctuates

It gets worse when it’s hotter, which is why i’m guessing the trans shifted worse when it was hotter.

I got another battery voltage low message in the EVIC with the engine on tonight, checked the voltage, 11.8 with the ENGINE RUNNING along with a very loud whine. Battery is fine and was replaced recently.


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TheEnder

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I have a new alternator on the way, but today, i went to costco and had the truck sitting with the engine on idling while i plugged my phone in, and the trans temp jumped from 141 to 170, then as soon as i put it into reverse it jumped to 275 with the EVIC screaming telling me to turn the engine off, but then it went right back to 141.

On the way there and back, the trans shifted weirdly better than it usually does with the shifts being nice and firm, and when i got home they were perfect.

I ran a load on the current alternator again with every load imaginable on the charging system (i.e headlights, brights, rear cargo light, hazards, all fans full blast, windshield wipers on) and it stayed at around 13.2, but with some decently big fluctuations from 13.3-13.4. When i turned everything off quickly it jumped up to 13.5, but then came back down to 13.2. which is the highest i’ve seen it.

From what i understand from researching, normal resting battery voltage is anywhere from 12.2 to 12.7, which mine is 12.5. The alternator is still screaming though.

Is 13.2 normal voltage? It doesn’t seem like it to me, as i’ve seen other 2013s equipped the same as mine over 14 volts, which would explain all of the electrical gremlins i’m having. I also got a really strange error in the EVIC when cranking up and leaving costco, which was “Warning 101 Not Used”.


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TheEnder

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I took the main connector off the alternator to see if it was on right, and at the base of the connector it looked like the cable melted and got in between the screw and the harness. Testing it in a few.


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