Vehicle: 01 Intrepid 2.7L 162k miles
Electrical History: Recently changed positive battery to jump post cable (corrosion, very poor connection), the negative battery to jump post is stock, and doesn't seem to be a problem.
Codes: P1684--always, P1682--new, and P0455--not relevant
This morning, about 1/3 of my way to work (hour commute). While returning to highway speeds after getting out of a small town, my battery light came on. No choice but to try to get to work, I turned all accessories off (heat, radio, and dimmed the interior lights) -- not sure if this would make any difference but I wanted to make sure I had every bit of juice possible. While dimming the lights, my headlights flashed bright for a second, and seemed much dimmer than normal for the rest of the drive. Everything seems to be doing fine, I cracked the window a time or two for a cigarette, normal performance on highway, and in town.
Backed into my parking spot in case I have to do any work on it, or get jumped before leaving. Shut her down, and started it up immediately.. no battery light. Turned on headlights, radio, heat, got out to see if the headlights were at their normal brightness. All seemed well, hopped in to shut it off, battery light was on again.
Did key dance, found P1684 (no surprise there), P1682 (now that ones new...), and 0455 (had a loose gas cap last week, the CEL has cleared, and hasn't returned)
P1682 is one that I haven't received before. FSM says Driver 5 Line 2 (huhwha?). A little research says poor voltage to charging system... definitely the cause of my battery light this morning.
More research says check fuses, and voltage at PCM, then voltage/connections at alternator. This was just on a generic forum (e.g. answers.com). Limited posts on these forums reference P1682 (aside from that idiot that pretended to have an emergency LOL!). Nothing I've read from this site is making me feel like I need to check the PCM, it seems pretty conclusive that the issue is always the alternator. Just want to make sure that is the consensus before I start throwing money at an alternator when something else is to blame.
Not knowing much about vehicles, I'm curious if the rattling I hear is coming from the alternator, and it's been going out, or had something wrong with it for a long time. The location definitely matches. I made a post about the rattling in another persons thread yesterday.
Also curious to see if I can get away with driving it for the rest of the week (may require a jump to get to, and from work?), or if I need to have someone come up with some tools, and pick up an alternator so I can do it in the parking lot today (not looking forward to that possibility)
Being the only vehicle available to get from to/from work, I won't be able to order/wait for Mopar. So my options are autozone/oreilly, or junk yard.
I guess a multi-meter is another tool I need to keep in the always with me tool bag
As always, thanks for reading, or at least skimming my wall of text! :baller:
Electrical History: Recently changed positive battery to jump post cable (corrosion, very poor connection), the negative battery to jump post is stock, and doesn't seem to be a problem.
Codes: P1684--always, P1682--new, and P0455--not relevant
This morning, about 1/3 of my way to work (hour commute). While returning to highway speeds after getting out of a small town, my battery light came on. No choice but to try to get to work, I turned all accessories off (heat, radio, and dimmed the interior lights) -- not sure if this would make any difference but I wanted to make sure I had every bit of juice possible. While dimming the lights, my headlights flashed bright for a second, and seemed much dimmer than normal for the rest of the drive. Everything seems to be doing fine, I cracked the window a time or two for a cigarette, normal performance on highway, and in town.
Backed into my parking spot in case I have to do any work on it, or get jumped before leaving. Shut her down, and started it up immediately.. no battery light. Turned on headlights, radio, heat, got out to see if the headlights were at their normal brightness. All seemed well, hopped in to shut it off, battery light was on again.
Did key dance, found P1684 (no surprise there), P1682 (now that ones new...), and 0455 (had a loose gas cap last week, the CEL has cleared, and hasn't returned)
P1682 is one that I haven't received before. FSM says Driver 5 Line 2 (huhwha?). A little research says poor voltage to charging system... definitely the cause of my battery light this morning.
More research says check fuses, and voltage at PCM, then voltage/connections at alternator. This was just on a generic forum (e.g. answers.com). Limited posts on these forums reference P1682 (aside from that idiot that pretended to have an emergency LOL!). Nothing I've read from this site is making me feel like I need to check the PCM, it seems pretty conclusive that the issue is always the alternator. Just want to make sure that is the consensus before I start throwing money at an alternator when something else is to blame.
Not knowing much about vehicles, I'm curious if the rattling I hear is coming from the alternator, and it's been going out, or had something wrong with it for a long time. The location definitely matches. I made a post about the rattling in another persons thread yesterday.
Also curious to see if I can get away with driving it for the rest of the week (may require a jump to get to, and from work?), or if I need to have someone come up with some tools, and pick up an alternator so I can do it in the parking lot today (not looking forward to that possibility)
Being the only vehicle available to get from to/from work, I won't be able to order/wait for Mopar. So my options are autozone/oreilly, or junk yard.
I guess a multi-meter is another tool I need to keep in the always with me tool bag
As always, thanks for reading, or at least skimming my wall of text! :baller: