Chief Gunner

I have a 1999 XJ Sport. I replaced the battery not long ago. Recently I have noticed that every once in a while, the voltmeter will read about 10 vDC when I start, the soon after drop to zero. I do not see any issues with the electrical within the jeep. lights work as normal, stereo is fine, engine runs well. Some times, if I shut the engine off and restart it, the volt meter moves back to 14 VDC. Sometimes when I am driving, the volt meter will drop to 0VDC then eventually back up to 14VDC. I think there might be a problem with the wiring to the volt meter or maybe somewhere within the computer modules. Anyone ever have this problem?

IJM

How are your battery terminals and cables? Secure and free of corrosion?

Chief Gunner

They are all clean and tight.

moparado

First thing i'd try is to remove, clean the cluster connector contacts and re-seat the instrument cluster.

In my experience as an electrical engineer troubleshooting problems over the years, 80+% of the time the culprit is something simple. I always start looking at the simple things first and take it from there. Electrical connectors are typically the weak link in any electrical system.
Humidity, vibration, heat/cold cycles, dust, etc. can take a toll on connectors over time especially cheap connectors.

Chief Gunner

Kind of what I was thinking. I was more curious if the signal from the charging system to the volt meter travelled though any of the modules that tend to fail. Once I have a chance, I guess I will be tearing into the cluster a bit....

CCKen

Chief,


Read through this thread.


https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/che...-cause-232361/

Kogulanathan Kasinadan

u can get an external volt meter..its cheap and accurate.

moparado

As an aside,
my new Ford 150 and Jeep Patriot do not have voltage gauges only the idiot lights.
Really miss having them. Might do just that.

BlueRidgeMark

They are cheap on Amazon. Nice little LED digital readouts. Did I mention, "cheap"?