This has to do with my Toad, a 2005 4 cyl Dodge Caravan, sorry it’s not about my RV but I’ve found some very sharp people on this board and I’m hoping for a definitive answer.
The other day I drove to Bainbridge Island/Seattle Ferry terminal and parked my Caravan, planning to walk on to the ferry. Just before I got to the lot my “check battery” light came on (my Caravan has no alternator gauges). I went ahead and left it for about six hours, came back started it up and drove it back 75 miles to Port Angeles. The check battery light came back on within blocks of starting out and stayed on the entire way, but I made it back okay.
After arriving in Port Angeles I checked the battery with an analog multimeter, both with the engine running and turned off. The voltage was higher while the engine was running indicating the alternator was working.
The next day I put a 10amp battery charger on it for 3 hours and then drove it to O’Reilly Auto Parts the "check battery" light never came on. At O’Reilly they checked it with some testing device of theirs and said that it appeared the alternator was working but the battery appeared to be going bad.
I drove home and thoroughly cleaned off the top of the battery as well as the battery posts going so far as to soak the grime encrusted battery clamps in a mixture of water and baking soda. My thought was the battery was losing power via a conductive film of battery crud on top of the battery.
Since I did all that cleaning the Caravans ran fine all week/300 miles, the "check battery" light hasn't come on, and all the cells test between 1275 and 1300 (don’t know the units) in the “Good” range on my 30 year old glass Sears hydrometer. I also checked acid levels and it was above the lead grids on all the cells. The cell closest to the + post was slightly lower than the rest, but still well above the lead grids.
This morning when I tried starting it all that happened was the starter solenoid rattled. I put a 10 amp charger on it for 3 hours and it started just fine.
When I tested it with my multimeter the voltage appeared to be higher than what it had been not running, indicating to me that the alternator was working.
There is one other thing though, my gas gauge and speedometer both pegged, the gas gauge to full and the speedometer to 120 mph, then they both settled back down to normal, it was as if the on-board computer was rebooting itself.
However, all through these problems I have gotten no “check engine” messages on the dash.
I’m planning on towing the Caravan back to Texas behind my RV in about 10 days and I’d like to resolve this issue or at least know what the problem is. The battery’s about 5 years old and the alternator’s got 162K on it, based on those two facts alone either could be going bad. In a perfect world I’d just replace both, but at this time I’m dreadfully short of money and to do so would cost me about $270.
Anyone have any ideas? Did I miss anything in my longwinded description of events?
Again, sorry this as a non-class A RV problem, but it is a toad problem.
