im a newvie i would apretiate any ideas going out of mind
after having done lots of work to my 97 ram 1500 5.2 timing belt oil pan gasket plenun gasket injectors water pump hvac etc now i hooked it all back together engine sounds great when it runs however my problem is new battery is draining down after start i also put new starter, alternator still battery draining GEN light comes on now .

 

sounds like you have a bad battery, just because its new doesnt mean its good. go get it checked at auto zone or other parts store. also, make sure it has the correct cranking amps required for your truck. and of course, make sure all of the wires running to and from the alternator to the battery are hooked up correctly. and then theres always possibility of a short somewhere so look intently at that. btw welcome to the forum!!

 

i will check the the cranking amps on the battery .ive been wondering if i wired the alternator wrong .since i removed the old alternator to workon the timing belt

do you have any diagram or idea how alternator should be wired
thanks Mikey0469

 

check your grounds. on mine, there was a group on the power steering accy bracket. also follow your battery ground cable. remove and clean all those.

check your battery with engine off. it should be around 12 volts. then check it again with then engine running. if the alternator is charging the battery, it should measure around 14-14.5

 

check the condition of the battery wires (to the fuse box and block) along with what was already said. if the wire looks bumpy and blistered then its bad. my sisters positive wire going to her fuse box was blistered and once it was changed her truck started and ran great.

 

thanks for the sudgestions guys. i found a blown alternator fusible link 120 amps
replaced it that tookcare of power issue now .
like i said before i took it apart to do timingbelt,plenum gasket,cleaned injectors oil pan. even did the a/c evaporator,accumulator lots of other stuff
the only other problem now : RPM moves up/down have a feeling it is vacum issue may have connected or not connected vacum hose wrongly
can anybody tellme how vacum hoses run from the intake

 

surging idle might be associated with dead battery/pcm reset and it learning the IAC counts. give it a couple of days.

 

dhvaughan you are right!

it is idleing better staying around 1500 rpm's if im reading it right it is not changing even with a/c compressor on.

do i need to reset the PCM?
and what SHOULD THE RPM BE AROUND?

 

should idle around 1000 cold and 600 warm. 1500 is not normal, but it might clear itself up after a full battery charge, pcm reset, and a few minutes of idleing.

be aware that these trucks don't idle well with a weak battery. something about the reference voltage not being as it should.

to reset pcm, disconnect neg battery cable and turn ignition to start for 30 sec. that drains the memory in the pcm.

 

i think iiwasn't reading rpm right

nedle is staying 0 / here betwee these two lines / / / 1 think that will make 150 rpm is that too low tps was just replaced