Low voltage problem, CEL lights

[TheMilkman]

I did do a little searching and haven't found another post that seems to be like what I have.

I was having an issue with the stock battery draining and even keeping it on a tender it wouldn't hold a charge even over night.

During this problem I would get the CEL and Lighting Bolt due to the low voltage.

I replaced the battery and still had the CEL and lights. I took the car in and the Dealer said that there were just Ghost codes from all of the low voltage incidents before and reset the codes.

About 3 days later the CEL and Bolt came back on. The battery looks good, no starting issue, had it sit for a week once and no problems starting. The radar detector shows 12.9v when I turn on the key every time with the new battery.

I was thinking I was doing something to upset the computer so for the last week I ran a strict set of steps each time I started her up.
Unplug the radar, and make sure all electronics are off before starting. Make sure the car is in neutral. Start it and wait for the Volt meter to go to 14volts. After 3 days the CEL went off and during this time no lighting bolt.

This morning, following the same steps the lights all came back on again while sitting at a stop light. They didn't come on when starting the car or when turning on the radio or anything, just sitting at a light.

I am guessing I might have more Ghost codes, but it's a pain to go to the dealership every couple of weeks to get the codes cleared.

Any ideas from the community on this?

 

[Rizzo]

Ground problem. Not sure. Possibly a bad battery?

 

[Venomiss]

It's been a few days. Did you get it figured out?

 

[Coloviper]

Sounds like either a grounding problem or a battery cable problem or possibly even an alternator problem as it comes on after you drive it and drain it a bit without keeping a consistent charge. Maybe you have a loose serpentine belt?

Then again your headlight fluid could be low and draining the battery too. Seriously other than those three I mentioned above, I don't know where else to look.

Ghost codes AFTER you changed the battery doesn't make any sense to me as all levels should be on normal and everything reading normal after the battery change.

 

[TheMilkman]

After taking the Viper in to the Dealer 3 times and was told that it was low voltage ghost codes and they cleared them they decided that they would give it a real run down.

I told them my radar detector has a battery voltage option on it, so I turned it on and every time I started the car it read 12.9 volts. Even after letting the car sit for a week it was still 12.9 when I got in and started it, so I don't think there is a low voltage problem. I also checked all of the grounding wires and tightened the battery hookup, but it still had issues. Once the car went into "limp" mode while driving in the mountains, so I really wanted the dealer to get to the bottom of the issue.

After about 6-7 hours of working it over they have decided that it needed a new PCM as they couldn't get the codes to go away.

It is an 08 Viper and I read that some of them needed a new PCM or a flash update to the PCM, I didn't get a notice and I remember checking my VIN and had thought I wasn't in the list.

At least it's under warranty still. I just hope they can get the part in and have it repaired for this weekends local VCA Club drive.

That is assuming that a new PCM will really fix the issue.

 

[mjorgensen Woodhouse]

They should check the plugs into the throttle bodies, the plugs if not snapped tight can cause this. If they are tight remove and re seat after checking for excess dielectric grease. We have seen this before when the limp mode and double lightning bolts have eluded traditional fixes.

Not sure if it will help but sure cannot hurt to check it out either.

 

[TheMilkman]

Well, this issue has made for a fun summer, NOT!. I hope to get it corrected before VOI as I'm driving out.

Sooooo. The dealer here replaced the PCM, Oil Temp Sensor, and Air intake sensor.

No CEL or Lightening bolts, for a whole 60 miles.

This time while driving through the mountains the CEL lit up and flashed. I was driving up a curvy mountain road at about 30 (in a 55 which about made my brain sieze). I came up to a passing zone, downshifted and gave a little gas, not much, and not hard, I was being casual due to the amount of traffic. That's when the Viper lost power and the CEL lit up and flashed. The car was still running, it didn't stop or stall, but it would not allow me to go over 2000RPM, I even tried putting it in neutral and reving the engine and it wouldn't go over 2K. Luckly, you can still go 60 in 5th at 1000RPM, so I just coasted into the next town.
I let the car sit for about 10-15 minutes while checking for anything obvious, which I didn't find.

The car started up just fine, sounded ok, and I was able to finish the drive back home with no issues. I even tried the low RPM's, downshift and rev up the engine to see if the problem would happen again and it did not. I'm not sure why I tried it, I was sort of hoping I would have a way to reproduce the issue at the dealer.

So I still have the CEL light, but no lightening bolts at all this time, and the worry that when I go on along drive the car can just stall or loose power on me at the most innopportune times and locations.

Any words of wisdom before I take the Viper back in to the dealer? At least I'm getting free car washes after every mountain drive I take.

 

[hightest]

If its happening during quick lane changes and curves then it's most likely a ground that is moving around. Check the ground connections to see if they're tight or if they have some corrosion. Also check to see if all of the PCM connectors are tight.

 

[SteveT]

Milkman - Any update you can share on your problem?