Thread: I think I need a new alternator

Charging 12.18 idle and 12.58 driving
Battery saver light on DIC every time I start the car and battery was dead today when I went to leave for the gym. Took it to auto zone they couldn't test the alternator because the battery was too low. Checked all grounds even made a new one from batt to unibody. All connections are tight. Anybody recommended any Alts? I was going to contact DC alts about a 250amp.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Did you have them test the battery? Sounds more like a dead battery to me. I just run a regular altenator from Orielys.

idk...it kinda sounds like the alternator.
12.58 while driving is pretty low.
just get an AC delco replacement lol

Originally Posted by t24moore

Did you have them test the battery? Sounds more like a dead battery to me. I just run a regular altenator from Orielys.

They said they couldn't as its charge was too low. Its on a 4 amp charge over night now.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

With the car running it should have at least 13.5 v. Sounds like a bad alt to me.

Originally Posted by ctracer

idk...it kinda sounds like the alternator.
12.58 while driving is pretty low.
just get an AC delco replacement lol

Hah maybe I have 2500wrms mono amp and a 600x4 looking to upgrade plus I have two batteries in the car Optima Red and Kinetic 2400

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

**** that is a lot, yeah upgrading the altenator may not be a bad deal after all lol

Originally Posted by t24moore

**** that is a lot, yeah upgrading the altenator may not be a bad deal after all lol

Yeah I did my top swap mostly to help move the extra weight around.

i had added a extra battery on my 03 pick up to aid with snow plowing, and the alt gauge never dropped lower than what it always was. i just had tons of power with 2, 1000 cca battery's working.

i just ran a cable from the positive on the stock battery, to the new battery's positive terminal, and then made a new ground on the engine to ground the new battery.

id think your alt is going down hill and or maybe the battery thats working the starter, if you not running them in line like i did.

Went and got alternator and battery tested both came back okay, drove my car around a little bit went back to auto zone and had them test again. Battery failed with low charge and alt passed again. Charged battery overnight and car is charging 13.98-14.58 now. I wish this kinetic fit in there.





Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

you golden now.

.....i was right. lol

Charging system failure message came up on my DIC today, cleared the message and it was charging at 17v. Wut.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

alt is probably bad. they have an internal voltage regulator that can go bad and overcharge they system and fry some electronics. Get a new one quick.

Originally Posted by dsmuts

alt is probably bad. they have an internal voltage regulator that can go bad and overcharge they system and fry some electronics. Get a new one quick.

I think the 04+ are PCM controlled, I could be wrong.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

i'd just get a new one, over charging's not good.

i dont think the pcm does anything but detect the voltage and send a report when needed, such as 17.0 volts being read. 13.6 or 8 at most is where you really want it to be, anything over 14.0 is not right at all.

Originally Posted by scottydoggs

i'd just get a new one, over charging's not good.

i dont think the pcm does anything but detect the voltage and send a report when needed, such as 17.0 volts being read. 13.6 or 8 at most is where you really want it to be, anything over 14.0 is not right at all.

Really the car has charged 14.1-14.5 since I got it.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

look it up, not kidding. over 14.0 the alt is over charging, i had 2 bad alts in a row, all charged over 14.0 and the info center said charging failure. they all tested good at the store too on that crap tester they use. but the volt meter dont lie. this was in my gmc pick up, but the same end result here.

Originally Posted by scottydoggs

look it up, not kidding. over 14.0 the alt is over charging, i had 2 bad alts in a row, all charged over 14.0 and the info center said charging failure. they all tested good at the store too on that crap tester they use. but the volt meter dont lie. this was in my gmc pick up, but the same end result here.

I'll have to check with a DMM when It says it going over 14v again make sure the DIC is not wrong.