Mercury - Grandmarquis :: Voltmeter On Instrument Cluster Indicating A Bit Low From Normal
Jun 11, 2015
2005 Mercury Grand Marquis, 102K miles
I noticed the other day that the voltmeter on my instrument cluster was indicating a bit low from normal (dead center). Knowing better than to blindly trust a cluster gauge I checked voltages with a multimeter, and it read 13.3V at the battery, and 13.4V at the alternator. This was after a 35 mile drive home from work with the A/C running virtually the whole time. Later on that evening I ran an errand, and noticed that despite the car sitting for a couple hours, the voltmeter was in the same low-ish spot. Checked voltages again with the multimeter, and they had not changed either, still 13.3/13.4V.
This morning I drove to work, and saw that the gauge (and voltages) did NOT drop off. Meter was dead center like it should be, and testing showed 13.9V all around. Today I drove home and kept the A/C off, and once again everything stayed right where they started, 13.9V. As an experiment I then turned on the A/C once I got home and rechecked voltages: within seconds it was back down to 13.3V, and it did NOT recover back to 13.9V after shutting the A/C off. It looks like once the voltage drops, it stays there for a while regardless of A/C being on or not.
Seems to me like it's possibly a slightly weak alternator (I don't like that it never quite reaches 14V under any circumstances). Another thought I had was that perhaps the belt tensioner is weak, as I did notice that when the A/C compressor clutch is engaged, the tensioner wiggles back-and-forth a bit, then returns to steady and solid when the clutch disengages. I should also add that the battery voltage when off is always good, 12.5V to 12.7V.
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1988 Mercury Grand Marquis
It jerks on occasion. Seems to do this at the point when it should downshift, but does not downshift. If I press down on the gas so that it downshifts then it runs fine.
Does it worst in cruise control. If I take it off of cruise control I can 'feel' when it is about to jerk and I can prevent it from jerking by either letting off on the gas a little bit, or pushing down on the gas so that it downshifts. Some of the time in cruise control it downshifts very smoothly.
It was getting worse and some good injector cleaner added to the gas seemed to solve the problem but it never did go away completely.Lately it has been getting a lot worse, mainly on moderate upgrades. Have not had a chance to get more good injector cleaner recently. The jerk is almost like the computer tells the engine to shut but then changes its mind.
1988 Ford Crown Victoria
Did a similar thing, mostly on fairly flat ground at around 35 MPH constant speed, when it seemed to be indecisive on whether to downshift or not.
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