low battery gauge readings?

[95suburb]

recently, my battery gauge would drop from 14 to 12 and redline at 9 when I turned on anything such as turn signals, radio, ac etc. So, I purchaced a new set of batteries that put out 940 ca a piece and the gauge went back up to 14 but would occasionally drop and just stay around 9-12 with anything on. So, to hopefully fix the problem I purchased a new 105 amp alternator but, i'm still having the same problems...any ideas on wut could be wrong with my trucks electrical system would be really helpfull..


...1995, 2500 6.5TD 4x4 166,000 miles

[hraney]

I am having the same issue on my 97 Crew Cab dually. I have cleaned grounds and the stacked positive leads and it got better for a while. But I think the issue is going to lie w/ corrosion "wicking" up the leads. SO..... I plan to one of these days replacing all the battery cables on my truck. If I get mine done 1st, I'll let you know how it turns out.

[95suburb]

haha, thanks, yea I think I'm just going to replace the other wires because I replaced my starter and the wire from the starter to the battery and even with low gauge readings the truck starts right up

[hraney]

Yeah, my 97 CC dually fires up w/o a hitch also, but I am still betting on the batter cables. I had all kinds of trouble on my '95 6.5 until I replaced them. It rarely actually used both batteries to start on since the cables were so corroded.

[6.5 rookie]

Good luck. Mine has done it for awhile and i went through the same things. Got tired of putting money into things that didnt need to be replaced. I just live with it and the truck runs fine. I never did think about the battery terminals however, so I may try that one last thing. Mine goes up and down when I turn my blinkers on. I think it is the gauge in the dash that is bad on mine. When my glow plugs are on my meter reads less than 9. Let me know when you find out what the problem is.

[Husker 6.5]

Good luck. Mine has done it for awhile and i went through the same things. Got tired of putting money into things that didnt need to be replaced. I just live with it and the truck runs fine. I never did think about the battery terminals however, so I may try that one last thing. Mine goes up and down when I turn my blinkers on. I think it is the gauge in the dash that is bad on mine. When my glow plugs are on my meter reads less than 9. Let me know when you find out what the problem is.

Check and clean ALL your grounds, including the one on the back of the passenger head to the firewall. Bad ground will cause exactly the symptoms you describe, and you will spend a lot of unneccessary money and headaches trying to solve the problem.

Husker 6.5

[95suburb]

I found out why my battery gauge was reading low. My wire on the back of my alternator wasnt on tight enough, that goes to the driver side battery, and one of my grounds in front of my passenger head was corroded. My gauge acts a lot better. It goes up to 14 about 4 secondss after I start it and only goes down a little bit when outside lights are on and all air conditioning is up all the way, still bounces a little when I turn on my turn signals though...hope this helps..

[Husker 6.5]

I found out why my battery gauge was reading low. My wire on the back of my alternator wasnt on tight enough, that goes to the driver side battery, and one of my grounds in front of my passenger head was corroded. My gauge acts a lot better. It goes up to 14 about 4 secondss after I start it and only goes down a little bit when outside lights are on and all air conditioning is up all the way, still bounces a little when I turn on my turn signals though...hope this helps..

People often overlook the importance of good grounding for proper vehicle electrical system performance.

A 0.1 to 0.2 dip in voltage when the signals blink is due to normal current surge. If it was your headlights turning on, it would be a dip followed by the alt bringing the voltage back up to normal.

Your system is now functioning normally. Stay on top of your ground points, especially if you live in an area that uses road salt.

Husker 6.5

P.S. See my post in answer to your same question in the chassis electrical section.

Husker 6.5

[ctrudell]

I have a 97 k2500, I also had problems with the voltage reading, changed alternator, batteries, belt, battery cables ect...

Finally, I removed my dash, the gages are working from printed plastic electronic circuits, the pins in the back that makes the contact between the gages and the printed circuits gets loose and make bad contact and reading, my oil gages was also going nuts sometimes. I pressed them back in place and my reading are all good now. I guess all the vibrations does not help.

Hope this helps someone, Chris.