A diesel engine will run w/o electricity, but...

[Jim H]

On Thursday afternoon after work, I saw the ABS light come on. Hmm, fuse blown on OVP? On a whim, I tried the wipers. They were really slow, even for a dry windshield...

Houston, we've had a problem Low voltage, possible bad alternator. I shut off all electrical accessories that I could, and switched the AC fan to Low.

Things began to make sense. I remember the wipers being slower than normal on Wednesday, but took no other notice. It otherwise started and ran fine.

I was in Detroit, 180 miles from home. I could not be guaranteed that the local dealership could make needed repairs on a walk-in basis the next day, Friday, and if they could not, I would be stranded in the Sleep Cheap at my expense over the weekend. Since the OM603 diesel does not need electricity to run, I figured I could make it home (about 180 miles away) since it would not be dark until I well after I arrived.

I rolled up some paper to remind me not to shut the car off. (I saw this on Apollo 13.)

The Reserve fuel light was on, so needed fuel for the 180 mile trip. I left it running. I went to check out of the Sleep Cheap. Left it running, and made it just before the 6:00 PM cutoff.

Finally, we're on the freeway. It starts to rain. I have no choice but to use what's left of the battery to run the wipers. Surprise, they work just fine!

I glance down, and see that the ABS light has now gone off... I tried the fan on Hi, and it worked fine. Hooray, the voltage is back. Maybe this is a loose connection that has 'fixed' itself.

An hour later the AC fan begins blowing fast/slow/fast/slow and the ABS light is back on. Drat, low voltage again. I conclude that the speed control on the fan gets 'confused' when the voltage gets too low.

It's suddenly getting really hot in here, much hotter than the 80's outside would warrant. Oh, yeah, the *^%(& monovalve has probably now opened from lack of voltage. I check and yes, the defroster vents are leaking really hot air!

As I'm talking to my wife on the cell she suggests that I open the sunroof and roll down the windows... um, Dear I remind her gently, they are electric power windows. I have no electricity, so I have no windows....

Later, I notice the engine is now only turning 2,500 rpm. Oh, and I am keeping up with traffic at an indicated 65mph. In Michigan? Right! I watch the rpm and speed drop to nothing when I had to apply the brakes and the lamps dropped the voltage to about zero.

OK, I now realize that the tachometer and speedometer are electric, and they are suffering from low voltage as well as the monovalve... I also notice that the main and trip odometers also stopped registering. They say I made the 180 mile trip in 72.9 miles.

The engine, trans and brakes never missed a beat! It did idle slower without the Electronic Diesel control, but no big deal.

All in all, it was OK, but I was surprised to find out first hand how much is really electric on our diesels, and what it takes to run without it. I could not have done this in the winter, since it would have been dark and the headlights would not have lasted for the trip.

I hope y'all find this of interest. I'll let you know what the problem was once it has been found and fixed.

Best Regards,
Jim

[t walgamuth]

that you may need alt brushes.

[Brian Carlton]

The SD did exactly the same thing to me on one occasion.

Then, it would suddenly fix itself and everything would work properly.

So, I took it on another trip, this time, at night.

Didn't like that one bit.

Got to the destination with about 2 candlepower coming from the headlights.

Charged the battery overnight and took it home the next morning.

Sure enough. Alternator problem.

I'd almost prefer your problem. Every few days my alternator decides to get a wild hair up it's rear and go full field. We're talking 18.5v here, great for powering a megawatt amp system but not a little ol' diesel.

*sniff* I can smell my boiling battery now...

[SD300]

U can buy voltage indicators at walmart for $5
Is color LED, yellow, green are OK above 12 volts, Red u know what!
At least u know in advance when Alternator has packed in.

[RG5384]

I did the same thing in my SD, except it didn't rain and i thought to roll the windows down while i still had some power. It then siezed the next day and i had to have the car towed. Knew it was on the fritz for a while though, i learned that an abnormally high voltage level generally meant just a surfice charge on the battery. Oddly enough hooking up my amp ended up solving the problem until the trip home from tallahassee. Wasn't fun with no radio or a/c.
Ryan