Dash lights randomly working

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Fayetteville AR
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2003 and a 2009
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Cummins 5.9 and 6.7
2003 dodge ram 3500 5.9 cummins Laramie
I just purchased this truck and the gauges randomly turn on and off going down the road. I figured if i turn the head lights on it will turn the gauges back on and for the most part it will work correctly with a little flickering, and also when the gauges go out the heated seats wont light up either. On a side note the alternator gauge shows it pegged out at 18 sometimes and others it shows 13 and sometimes 8 which is as low as the gauge goes and a volt meter on the battery shows 17 i don’t know if the issues are related or not
 

jerryt

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crossville tn 38572
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2004
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5.7
Sounds like a bad ground somewhere, but I would be concerned about the 17 volts frying something.
 

Fishstickz

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I have to agree with the post above. The flickering may be a bad ground on the inside of the cab.

Does the alternator gauge go up and down with the RPM? If it does theres the possibility the alternator isn't working as it should. I'm kinda dumb in terms of how alternators work, but it sounds like its sending all its power straight to the battery (instead of alternating). Could be a bad ground as well, alternator is going out, or maybe even the gauge is getting a bad read
 
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I replaced the alternator and it fixed it for the most part, most of the time the gauges says 14 now but sometimes it will just drop to 0 but its still charging and occasionally it will say 18 but not as often. As for the rest of the gauges it seems to only happen after a rain with it just sitting there so it appears something is getting wet without even driving it
 
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Just adding some other things wrong with the truck just to make sure they aren’t contributing to my problems

Bare wire on fuel pump- somebody cut a large hole in the bed and it has been open for some time i put a sheet of stainless steel over it to keep rain off for now

Fuel pressure gauge does not work correctly- i found broke wires and fixed it but now it just either pegs out or is at 0 depending on throttle

heated seat- driver side heated seat does not work but passenger does

oil leak from timing cover

there is also a silver box mounted to the firewall that has several wires going different directions one going to the alternator (looks like it was added by a previous owner)maybe a type of regulator or something

Batteries on truck are dead after two days and when i park the truck one sounds like it sizzles and I checked the levels in the batteries and the one that sizzles was fine but the passenger side was pretty much empty
 
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2003 and a 2009
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Cummins 5.9 and 6.7
This is what is mounted to the firewall the goes to the alternator as well as several other places just not sure if its a type of regulator possibly hooked up wrong or maybe not at all

3F26D5B6-6FF4-40F7-8416-63F135D0EE6B.jpeg

78F47CC2-02D4-4030-89C4-FC46A7CD8265.jpeg

D0ECA739-B896-488E-8F32-E365B95ECA9B.jpeg
 
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2003 and a 2009
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Cummins 5.9 and 6.7
I figured it was indeed a regulator and i rewired it and added a ground between the alternator and the regulator but no change so I ordered a new regulator and im waiting on it
 
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Fayetteville AR
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2003 and a 2009
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Cummins 5.9 and 6.7
The new regulator fixed the over charging and the battery gauge on the cluster works about half the time and the other half its on zero any suggestions? Is there a sensor somewhere for the battery voltage
 
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