VOLTAGE FLUCTUATION QUESTION

[Dennis55]

I was drviving my '01 3500 8.1/Allison/4:10/CC the day before yesterday, and out of nowhere the message center starts flashing the red battery symbol - I look at the voltage guage and sure enough, it's bouncing back and forth between 9V and 17V. It did this for about 90 seconds, and while the engine didn't die, I pulled into a parking lot in case it did die on me. Then, nothing. Back to ops normal. Got the vehicle in Dec 2001, it has 28,000 miles on it. Has been flawless up to this point.

 

Alternator going bad? So far it's just a one-time occurrance.

 

Thanks in advance,

Dennis

[robsawatsky]

Either a bad alternator or possibly just a flakey electrical connection. I'd check that all the battery and alternator connections are tight. If it doesn't happen again - chock it up to a loose connection somewhere.