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Stock Volt gauge dying

iwannadie

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Gilbert, Az
97 xj auto 4x4

One day I started the jeep up and my volt gauge dropped to 0 and the check gauges light came on. Everything seemed fine just the gauge. I think after about a mile or two the gauge popped back up to a normal reading. Over the next few days it did that and now some days works right away and other just sstays at 0 with the check gauge light on. I'm guessing the gauge is bad?

Something else I can't fully confirm but it seems like when the volt gauge is at 0 my heater fan doesn't go to max speed. I can't 100% confirm but it sounds like its on the second to highest setting to me not max when its set to max. Not sure if that may be related. When the volt gauge works the fan seems to work on max. When the volt gauge isn't working and the fan speed is set tot he lowest I can't even hear it.

No other signs of trouble at all that I have noticed. Is there a way to replace just the volt gauge? Maybe a loose connection at the back of the cluster?
 
If the battery gauge shows 9 volts, there is an alternator issue, probably worn out brushes. If the battery gauge shows 19 volts, there is probably a battery wire connectivity issue.

The brushes wear out and get stuck, hitting a bump unsticks them. Often removing the alternator for bench testing will also unstick them, giving a false positive test result. If you still think the gauge is the problem, you should confirm that by testing the alternator output.
 
Put a new alternator in and fixed the issue. Not sure why I didnt think of that first.

What a Pain getting the alternator out though. I have brown dog super mounts and rhe bracket was a pain to get in so I didnt want to remove /loosen that to get the alternator upper bracket out. Pulled the alternator from above after playing with it for a solid 45 minutes. It felt like I was trying to push a square peg through a round hole the entire time.

Funny how fast my windshield wipers seem now, I guess my old alternator was pretty bad off.
 
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