Gen 2.5 - Misreading Voltage Meter

[nwoods]

My voltage meter habitually reads low, like 9-10 volts. I have a new battery and new alternator, and running a Fluke volt meter on the battery leads reads +12 to 13 volts, so my juice is pure, but the voltage meter in the gauge pack is not convinced. Looking through the Service Manuals, I found a very peculiar recommendation on page 54-21. It says that if the volt meter shows good, but the onboard voltage meter shows bad, then to replace the oil pressure gauge. Now why on earth would that be the fix?

 

[Evo666]

I have this problem too. I was thinking if I can replace the gauge with something else. Maybe aftermarket volt meter.

 

[billygoats]

Nathan,

Have you tried, taking apart the cluster and finding the actual +12v feed that the meter runs off of, then use the Fluke on that? That can isolate a faulty meter, vs. a faulty +12v signal.

 

[nwoods]

Good idea. I need to disassemble the dash to replace a bunch of burnt out bulbs. I'll test it then.

 

[billygoats]

Good idea. I need to disassemble the dash to replace a bunch of burnt out bulbs. I'll test it then.

I need to do that to my compass/outside temp guage. Gotta muster up the motivation to do it! The passenger rear 4wd light on my cluster is burned out too. That one seems a bit more hassle to change!

 

[Sabre]

...The passenger rear 4wd light on my cluster is burned out too. That one seems a bit more hassle to change!

It may take a little while to figure it out on your own, but just look up the procedure. Once you know it, you can do this job in literally ten minutes. Replace those little buggers with LEDs and you'll never have to do it again.

 

[nwoods]

It may take a little while to figure it out on your own, but just look up the procedure. Once you know it, you can do this job in literally ten minutes. Replace those little buggers with LEDs and you'll never have to do it again.

My attempt at this failed today. I was able to access the lights (wow, there are a LOT of them), but AutoZone and PepBoys (two local general auto parts suppliers) did not have anything similar to them, and NOTHING in their look up tables for instrument lighting. So not only was I unable to get replacement bulbs, I came up completely empty on LED replacements for them. Do you have a source and/or part number?

On a related note, the lamp that illuminates the right hand side of my air conditioning controls is out. I tried to access that one today, but was unable to extract the A/C unit from the dash. I couldn't disconnect the wiring harness's, and there is not enough slack in the bundle to pull it out more than an inch, if that. However, I was able to pull out this weird blue thing. Is this a light? if so, how does one remove the light from the harness? I tried multiple push/pull/twist gymnastics and accomplished nothing. However, my mechanical aptitude is incredibly low. I was frankly more than a little surprised that I was able to remove the harnesses on the gauge cluster without too much difficulty. It only took me an hour to wiggle them loose.

Here is the blue thing:

 

[billygoats]

The blue thing is a light. Looks like a 168 wedge bulb. The blue part is a rubber condom that gives the blue backlight. The bulb just pulls out of the socket, no twisting needed. Might be tight due to age.

 

[Sabre]

Everyone seems to get their LED dash lamps at http://superbrightLEDs.com/; I did. I'm sorry that I don't have the part numbers I used right now. Be aware that LEDs have a polarity while incandescent lamps do not. In other words, test before you button everything up, because 50% of them will need to be reversed.

 

[nwoods]

Awesome guys, thanks for the help

 

[GFO]

I replaced my stock alternator last year (lived about 130k, so can't complain), before my meter would always read 12-14 volts, now it reads anywhere from 9-12. Car runs fine, so I don't mind. I do notice that when it's reading under 12, it's usually on hot days.

 

[Sabre]

I replaced my stock alternator last year (lived about 130k, so can't complain), before my meter would always read 12-14 volts, now it reads anywhere from 9-12. Car runs fine, so I don't mind. I do notice that when it's reading under 12, it's usually on hot days.

It's understandable that a voltmeter might be out of calibration, but it's odd that yours went from normal readings to voltages that are decidedly too low. How do you know that your voltage regulator is functioning properly? I'd definitely want to use a known good meter on there and double check your dash meter. Even if the car does seem to run well, you're going to kill that battery if it turns out that you're running it chronically undercharged.

A normal alternator should be showing you something like 14.2 volts, plus or minus a few tenths, with no extra load other than the running engine.

 

[GFO]

Yeah, it's a mystery to me too. The alternator my mechanic used came directly from a Mitsubishi dealer as well. It's easily been a year now; likely closer to 1.5 years since I had it replaced as I think it was very early 2012.

Will have to get my hands on a good volt meter and do some testing at the battery and the car-meter if I'm able with the engine off and then running.

 

[nwoods]

GFO, where in California are you? Anywhere near Orange County?

 

[vxs2k]

I try to swap out the bulbs on th AC controller as well. I try to do a LEDs swap with this T5 LED. I belive this is the most slim one you can fit in the shocket but it is still to big to fit in the shocket and the the color is kind of wired. With out the blue cover on the bulb, the controller will light up in green instead of white even with the hyper white LEDs installed. At the end, I have switch back to the OEM bulb.