1988 Died while driving and now no power even to accessories

[ren663]

I have a 1988 Ram 50 2.0 that I recently replaced the alternator, the battery, and the starter. Two days after replacing the battery and starter it died while driving. I now have no power to any of the accessories. I tried jumping it and nothing. I am going to take the battery in to be checked to see if it has a bad cell. Does anyone have any other ideas?

[tortron]

could be a bad wire or connection to the ECU (if applicable to your truck) I had a dodgy plug into the ecu that would occasionally kill my truck, then it would be totally dead until I unplugged and replugged it in

[77amc]

Go backwards over what you installed. And remember these wires/connections are pretty old, so things tend to crack/break.
Look to see if the wire that feeds back to the harness (from + on the alternator terminal "BAT") is connected.

Dopy me forgot to put it back on with my 95 chevy truck and it ran off the battery until it died, thought it was alt, bought a NEW one only to find
out it was just that wire..

OR, you just might have popped a fuse or smoke-checked a wire somewhere.
E

[pennyman1]

there is a fusable link off of the positive battery terminal that if it blows, you get nothing. It will have connectors on each end to identify it. you can replace it with n inline fuse, or replace it with a new link or wire of the same gauge - look in the manual section for the proper size.

[ren663]

I took the battery and alternator in to be tested and the battery tested fine, but the alternator was bad. I replaced that and it worked fine for 2 days and it died again. Checked the battery and it was dead. I put it on the charger tonight and it is charging. So something with the alternator is not working. I hate to say it but I had Autozone test the alternator I purchased 3 times before leaving the store and it worked fine. I am beginning to think it is in the wiring as well since it only worked for 2 days before dying. I will have to pull the alternator again to have it checked again. There is no signs that got fried. I may have to leave the wiring up to a mechanic to figure out. Getting very frustrated with my Dodge 50.

[tortron]

Does the alternator have an internal or external regulator?

[claych]

^^^

Excellent question,:)

I add one more, # of aftermarket accessories added??

[Law Dog]

I'm over in Chamberlain, SD if you need anything I might have it around here "someplace"! LOL

[CarbonJawed]

Check your plugs.

[geezer101]

I would think there is a short somewhere that is causing the alternator to fail (it is baking the regulator right?) If it was't hooked up into the charging circuit properly then all that would happen is a no battery charge situation. You have no guarantee of the quality of parts used in rebuilt alternators or how well they've been assembled. Your truck will be running an IR in the alternator unless somebody neanderthal teched it for some weird reason.

[Giovanni89]

It is an internally regulated 3 wire alternator. One wire charges the battery. 1 wire goes to the charging warning light on dash, and 1 wire is a voltage sensing wire. The voltage sensing wire will control the internal regulator. The voltage sensing wire should see battery voltage. The output lug should be from 13-14.5 volts. It may dip a little lower at a slow idle with accessories drawing power.