Moab trip report days 1&2 - Getting there
We split the 1000 mile journey into two halves and stayed at Spencer Hot Springs last night. As I got to camp, I noticed the battery light was on just as we got there. It’s partially hidden by my Scangauge and may have been on for a while. I was carrying a sore and swapped it over in no time. I started the engine and the battery voltage was about 12.8V. A little low, but then the battery may have been quite flat.
In the morning we started to line up to leave, when Sasha said that his D2 wouldn’t start. It would not crank. The security system had been tripped (possibly due to the hood being open) and we had to reset the system by locking and unlocking the doors. We tried this several times and it was clear that it wasn’t the problem. The next thought was something to do with the PRNDL lever, but there were no tell tale signs of faulty XYZ switch and the gear was correctly show on the dash.
We traced the starter circuit through the fuse and relay and down to the starter motor. I was carrying a spare starter and was preparing to swap it out. In desperation I asked Mike to give the starter a whack with a hammer. He used a screw driver handle as a mallet and it worked. The engine fired straight up after and thump to the starter solenoid.
The next adventure was my replacement, used alternator. This had come of my parts truck and I did not have any issues with it previously. For this trip, the regulator was partially working at the best of times and switching on and off and slowly draining the battery (fortunately it’s a dispose deep cycle unit). I managed to drive the distance and got as low 10.5 V before the alternator kicked in just as we drove into town. I have a replacement ordered which should arrive at O’Reilly’s tomorrow.
We had a nice dinner at Zax and finally scrubbed up before a night cap at the cabin.