Just because the battery checks good at home with a meter and the
electrolytes test good with the ball tester doesn't necessarily mean the
battery is good when under a load. Need too take it in to a local parts
stores and have it load tested. Also, I'd double check all your ground
wires to make sure they are tight and not loose.
brian cropp
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net] On Behalf Of David Gersic
Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 8:24 PM
To: dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
Subject: Re: DML: Strange electrical problem
Ok, I went over the battery today, and I don't think that's it.
I checked the water level, and it looks fine. I put my electrolyte tester in
it, and it claims to be ok. I got four of the five balls floating, which the
tester says is "fully charged" without being "over charged".
I checked the wiring, the cables seem firmly attached to the clamps. Cleaned
the posts and clamps, made sure that the clamps are tight. No change.
I then put a meter on the battery terminals. Getting just over 12V there.
When
cranking, it drops briefly to 11V, then goes to 14V and stays there.
Then I tried it without cranking. I get the same results from just turning
the
key to "run". There are no stored codes, and the "dashboard diagnostic" test
doesn't complain about anything either.
So, refining my symptoms a bit, here's what I have:
When turning the key to "run", I get several "bing" noises from the dash.
Some
of them may be the usual length, others are truncated.
If I have the headlights on, and I turn the key to "run", I not only get the
weird and inconsistant "bing" noises, I also get a click from the lamp
relay,
the odometer brightness goes back to normal (like when the headlights aren't
on), and the hi-beams flash briefly. This may happen one or more times.
It doesn't matter if I start the truck or not, the same things happen.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a few books worth of video of
what the dash is doing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yi9dT8G4B4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouNJVvDiuf8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_ezgrg_dJw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTCKqNlfc3U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TET967vzVeE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFiPyFLvkQI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZlVJ7nKTSY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoHIEzKzrqc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7i2mC3NXmU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYPBALz7bVQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luKkPXHoUss
Or, the originals, if the YouTube links don't work right:
http://www.zaccaria-pinball.com/temp/Dakota/mvi_1993.avi
http://www.zaccaria-pinball.com/temp/Dakota/mvi_1994.avi
http://www.zaccaria-pinball.com/temp/Dakota/mvi_1995.avi
http://www.zaccaria-pinball.com/temp/Dakota/mvi_1996.avi
http://www.zaccaria-pinball.com/temp/Dakota/mvi_1997.avi
http://www.zaccaria-pinball.com/temp/Dakota/mvi_1998.avi
http://www.zaccaria-pinball.com/temp/Dakota/mvi_1999.avi
http://www.zaccaria-pinball.com/temp/Dakota/mvi_2000.avi
http://www.zaccaria-pinball.com/temp/Dakota/mvi_2001.avi
http://www.zaccaria-pinball.com/temp/Dakota/mvi_2002.avi
http://www.zaccaria-pinball.com/temp/Dakota/mvi_2003.avi
In most of these, the only thing I'm doing is turning the key from off to
run.
In a couple of them, I turn it to start, then release it back to run, and
you
can hear the engine start and settle down to idle. The mvi_2003.avi one
shows
the odometer as the hi-beam lamps flick on and off and the odometer flashes.
You can hear the lamp relay clicking.
So, has anybody ever seen anything like this before? Even crazy suggestions
are welcome at this point.
Can somebody with an '01 Dakota tell me how many "bing" noises from the dash
are normal? Just turn the key to "run" and count them. I seem to recall it
being two, but would appreciate confirmation.
Do the "bing" noises mean anything? I'm assuming that whatever computer runs
the dash cluster is doing some kind of self test or startup test here. Is it
trying to tell me something?
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.11.23/2016 - Release Date: 03/21/09
17:58:00
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Apr 01 2009 - 01:46:39 EDT