Argh! 98 3.8 liter Grand Voy

[RobBing]

Were to start? Ok over the weekend I figured I would change the tensioner myself because I've done everything else. Well I took off the serpentine belt, got the pulley off and then found that I couldn't reach the nut to undo the tensioner. So I then undid the alternator but just moved it to the side when I figured out I didn't know how to disconnect it. Couldn't get the nut off so I just put everything back.

Today I went to start the car and it wouldn't start so I jumped it and drove it around for a while thinking it would be ok and that it just needed a charge on it. Went to the gym and when I went to leave it wouldn't start. Jumped it and for some reason the speedomoter and tac aren't working now.

Does anyone know what I might have done to cause this, both the alt and speed guage were working fine before.

[jdl]

Can you check for trouble-codes? Have you tried cycling the ignition switch three times, (on/off, on/off, on), you turn the key till the dash lites come on,and the third time, leave the key on, watch the CEL, see if starts flashing. Count the flashes to get the codes. Anything?

You can put a voltmeter across your battery posts, with everything turned off, what's the reading? With the vehicle running, take a second reading across the battery posts, what's the reading? The second reading should be higher, if it isn't, the alternator isn't charging the battery.

You should use a battery-charger on a discharged battery, to bring it up to spec, not the alternator. I've used the alternator before to try to charge a battery, but,it isn't good procedure.

You can take a reading at the bat. terminal on the alternator, with the vehicle running, to see if it is charging. If there are two smaller terminals at the alternator besides the bat. terminal, those should be field terminals, with the engine running, they should be hot, one of those wires should have a pulse. The dark green with orange stripe should be B+. The dark green wire should have a pulse.

I'm just talking about the battery and charging system. Have you cleaned the battery cables on both ends?

[RobBing]

Well, here's the current scoop. Jumped the car and the speedomoter and tac are working again(not sure why they didn't that one time). I also disconnected the battery cables and the car kept running fine. I bought my battery from WalMart 1.5 years ago, took it up there and the girl gave me a brand new one no questions asked.

So, I still don't know if I have a problem or just ran my battery down too low for the alt to charge it.