Lightning bolt and check gauges light from loose battery terminals. Any damage done?

[The motor guy]

I had some work done to the truck and they didnt quite tighten the positive crossover cable connecting the passenger side battery to the drivers side battery and one negative cabke was a but loose too. I replaced that crossover cable about 4 months back and that solved my dead battery issue, but I've never had it where I had a loose terminal while driving like it did last night. The voltage guage went to 12 and the headlights went dim. I had 14.5v on the passenger side battery and 12.7 on the driverside. Not sure how the truck stayed running. All the lights went off once I got everything tightened and the lightning bolt went away after a couple restarts. Guess I should have checked that both batteries were getting an even 14v after getting the truck back. Any harm done here?

 

[Kira]

Year, make, model, trim...?

Just a guess: Wonky and intermittent voltage might disturb a motor controller if it wasn't designed to take abuse.
Also, wobbly electricity was always the first thing to correct as it'd louse up "interpart communications".

 

[The motor guy]

Wonderful. Just what I need is the vgt actuator on the turbo to get messed up again. They just replaced the turbo.This is my 07.5 6.7 cummins in my dodge ram pickup.

 

[cptbarkey]

Its a terrible design. I deleted the 2nd battery and all that junky hardware and havent looked back. Doubtful you can do that if you live up north.

 

[The motor guy]

Its a terrible design. I deleted the 2nd battery and all that junky hardware and havent looked back. Doubtful you can do that if you live up north.

Just the terminals are junk. Been junk since the truck was new. After you clean the battery posts a few times they lose their diameter and you cant tighten them anymore. I guess I'll work on replacing the rest of these cables and terminals.

 

[The motor guy]

Its a terrible design. I deleted the 2nd battery and all that junky hardware and havent looked back. Doubtful you can do that if you live up north.

Hard to say. I'm sure it's fine if you have only one battery with good connections. Typically one battery goes bad then drags everything else down.

 

[nomas]

Hard to say. I'm sure it's fine if you have only one battery with good connections. Typically one battery goes bad then drags everything else down.

This has happened to my son twice . One battery goes really bad and his truck goes nuts . Warning lights , messages in the App , you name it . Replace the battery and life is good .

 

[oldcodger]

Battery post shims are available to tighten up underize posts. They work but do add another thing to watch for corrosion.

 

[Kira]

They just replaced the turbo.This is my 07.5 6.7 cummins in my dodge ram pickup.

How many miles were on the original turbo and why was it replaced?
How many miles on the vehicle now?

 

[The motor guy]

How many miles were on the original turbo and why was it replaced?
How many miles on the vehicle now?

11k hours and 250k miles. Probably could have taken it apart and cleaned it, then put it back together, but just replacing it seemed to be the most logical choice

 

[The motor guy]

How many miles were on the original turbo and why was it replaced?
How many miles on the vehicle now?

It got bound up from soot or maybe just wear or possible an internal failure. Would have to take it apart to find out exactly why.

 

[The_Jeff]

Battery post shims are available to tighten up underize posts. They work but do add another thing to watch for corrosion.

Just find a piece of 1/2 copper pipe and cut it up into a semi-circle.

 

[The motor guy]

Just find a piece of 1/2 copper pipe and cut it up into a semi-circle.

Some of it is the battery terminal bolt. It's got one where you can add cables to one side without actually removing the terminal. Needs a larger contact area so it stays secure better