Chrysler Repair: 1995 Cirrus: battery light on, cirrus lxi, alternator output

Question
QUESTION: Hi Roland. I have a 1995 Cirrus LXi 6cyl. The battery light came on while driving so I checked the battery voltage with engine running and it was about 13.95. I thought everything was good so I continued to drive it (at night). The battery light stayed on. Now the instrument lights got dim so I checked the voltage again and it was very low. I couldn’t get a solid reading. So I shut the engine off and it would not start again. I charged the battery for 10 minutes, started it and drove it. Now the instrument lights were bright again, but the battery light was still on. I checked voltage again, 13.9. I parked the car. Two days later it started with no problem. All this time, the battery light always comes on about a minute after starting the engine. Today, I replaced the alternator with a new NSA product, the voltage was 14v. Ten minutes of driving and the battery light came on again. Now I have no clue. Can you help?  George

ANSWER: Hi George,
It may be an intermittent disconnect between the engine controller and the field coil of the alternator, or it could be an intermittent in the connection of the battery to the alternator output wire, or it could be a failure in the control of the field coil (the voltage regulator function) that is housed in the engine controller.
Perhaps getting any fault codes that the engine controller has stored in its memory will tell us which of these possibilities apply. Turn the ignition:"on-off-on-off-on and leave on" doing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time. Then watch the check engine light, which remains 'on' to see it begin to flash, pause, flash, etc. count the number of flashes before each pause. Then repeat the process to be sure you get the same set of flash counts. Then combine the counts in the order of appearance to form the 2-digit fault codes. Then let me know the codes. The last code is always 55 which means 'end of readout'.
We'll go on from there, knowing which codes showed up.
Roland
PS Note that disconnecting the battery will erase the codes, so if you recently disconnected it you will want to drive it at least far enough to have the red low voltage warning light come on and a new code to be set.

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QUESTION: Roland, the codes are 41, 33, 47. I left off the 12 and 55, I know what they are. Thanks for your help. George

Answer
Hi George,
The 33 is about the AC clutch circuit not working properly. The 47 says the voltage output of the alternator is too low, and the 41 says the field coil control circuit of the alternator is not working properly. My inclination would be to check the continuity from pin 4 of the powertrain control module (engine computer) to the 2-wire plug at the alternator which is the dark green wire. Also check that the dark green/orange wire on that same plug shows 12V when the engine is running. That is essentially the control circuit of the alternator field coils.
Roland