Battery, A/T overheat, Water in Fuel lights all came on!

[Delicatessan]

Background:

Was driving yesterday. Got about 1.5 miles from my house. Noticed me stereo was going off, coming back on, going off.... Pulled over. This is where the real problems start. I waited 10 seconds. Tried to restart. Nothing. Starter clicking, but no engine activity. Rolled up windows. Uh oh. Power weak. Barely going up. Lights dim.

Replace the batteries with Optima 35 yellow tops. Van cranks instantly. Power strong.

Now have three freaking warning lights on: battery, water in fuel filter, and transmission fluid temp. (See photo).

 

[Growlerbearnz]

Because I now have three freaking warning lights on:
battery, water in fuel filter, and transmission fluid temp. (See photo).

Those three lights come on when the alternator isn't charging*. Don't panic, just treat them as a battery warning light. Your alternator (or the wiring to it) is bad. Check the battery terminals, large alternator fuse in the battery compartment, and alternator wiring.

At rest (engine off) the voltage at the battery should settle at 12.3-13.5V. When the engine's started, the voltage should rise to 13.8-14.4V. If the voltage doesn't rise this high, your alternator's output is weak. Start budgeting for a rebuild or new alternator.


*WTF was Mitsubishi thinking? It's a legal requirement for the dashboard warning lights to come on before the engine starts, so you know they're working. The battery and oil pressure lights are easy, their nature is to come on when the engine's not running and go out when the engine starts. But the A/T and water/fuel lights? Those are trickier. Most manufacturers use a timer module to turn on these kinds of warning lights for a few seconds, but Mitsubishi decided to be cheap: they connected those two lights to the battery/alternator light, so if the battery light comes on (like before the engine starts), those lights do too.
They're connected by diodes, so an AT overheat or water in the fuel will only trigger that one light. But if the alternator fails it behaves like the engine's not running and turns on all 3 of them.

Your reaction is completely normal. I think the first time the dashboard lights up like that everyone thinks "AAARGH WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!!" I know I did. Stupid Mitsbishi.

 

[L.G.]

If it's not a bad alt, check connections from alt back to the batteries. Had a similar thing w our TV recently, was all just a loose butt connector. (....ew)