sprinterworx
New member
Hi fellow sprinter enthusiasts.
I have an issue with the electrical system on my sprinter van. It is a 2007 Dodge badged sprinter 2500 diesel.
Here is what's going on.
The battery alternator angry red light came on and van lost power while driving. I had though the engine smelt funny, which is a telling sign your alternator is bad (smells like a dead rat my shop teacher once said) so I replaced the alternator, without testing, because autozone, oriely's, the dealer and pep boys had no way of telling if the alternator was functioning due to the funny terminals on the bottom. After replacing the alternator the van ran just fine for 20 days and then exhibited the exact same problem. I limped it home on what little power it had left and then plugged it into a trickle charger to drive to my auto shop the next day. Upon starting it the next day, it struggled, and then the glow plug coil light on the dash came on and the check engine light came on. I plugged in the OBD2 and it told me the glow plug circuit was malfunctioning along with glow plugs 1 2 3 4 5 6.
I had the battery checked by a professional battery checker at pep-boys to see if a cell had fused or the battery was bad, it checked out okay. I replaced the alternator with a brand new oem and checked it this time while disconnected to the battery. Putting out 15.6 volts, more than enough to charge a battery under normal conditions, I bolted it back on. The battery seemed to hover around 12.2 volts climbing a little and receding a little. But the ominous red "battery/alternator Take to workshop" still displays on the errors after countless resets and battery disconnects. I tried disconnecting the auxiliary heater switch (it was said in the forums this might be stuck on causing a power drain), and still the light remained on. On a side note, the auxiliary heating switch led stopped lighting up after this problem started occurring.
Any help on this would be appreciated before I spend 500 dollars on a glow plug circuit.
I have an issue with the electrical system on my sprinter van. It is a 2007 Dodge badged sprinter 2500 diesel.
Here is what's going on.
The battery alternator angry red light came on and van lost power while driving. I had though the engine smelt funny, which is a telling sign your alternator is bad (smells like a dead rat my shop teacher once said) so I replaced the alternator, without testing, because autozone, oriely's, the dealer and pep boys had no way of telling if the alternator was functioning due to the funny terminals on the bottom. After replacing the alternator the van ran just fine for 20 days and then exhibited the exact same problem. I limped it home on what little power it had left and then plugged it into a trickle charger to drive to my auto shop the next day. Upon starting it the next day, it struggled, and then the glow plug coil light on the dash came on and the check engine light came on. I plugged in the OBD2 and it told me the glow plug circuit was malfunctioning along with glow plugs 1 2 3 4 5 6.
I had the battery checked by a professional battery checker at pep-boys to see if a cell had fused or the battery was bad, it checked out okay. I replaced the alternator with a brand new oem and checked it this time while disconnected to the battery. Putting out 15.6 volts, more than enough to charge a battery under normal conditions, I bolted it back on. The battery seemed to hover around 12.2 volts climbing a little and receding a little. But the ominous red "battery/alternator Take to workshop" still displays on the errors after countless resets and battery disconnects. I tried disconnecting the auxiliary heater switch (it was said in the forums this might be stuck on causing a power drain), and still the light remained on. On a side note, the auxiliary heating switch led stopped lighting up after this problem started occurring.
Any help on this would be appreciated before I spend 500 dollars on a glow plug circuit.