2000 silverado NEED HELP ASAP

[shredder2011]

So I own a 2000 chevy Silverado, 268k miles on the truck, just bought it cheap for winter use.. It has the 5.3L V8 with 4x4

 

So anyways the issues... The truck has been running just fine until January 7th, the check engine light turned on randomly, but the truck still ran fine... Well its well below zero outside, so I went out to start my truck and let it warm up for about a half hour before I left work. The truck started fine, and was running fine, so I walked back inside. When I walked out a half our later, it was like my battery was dying, the truck was still running but my headlights slowly kept dimming until they were gone, along with my gauge cluster lights.

 

Then when I hit the gas to head from work to somewhere else to keep my truck for the night I could barely get it to accelerate. It was spitting and sputtering really bad, and the exhaust smell wasn't normal. The smell coming from the exhaust didn't smell anything like gasoline... So I got the truck to a family members, popped the hood and the alternator was squeaking (not the belt, the alternator was). But there was no burning smell under the hood. Then the truck would die, I went to start it and it acted like the battery was dead... so I let sit, called my dad to come pick me up and take me home.. well while I was waiting, I decided to try to start the truck.. the truck fired right up, headlights were just as bright as normal, and every electronic was functioning properly. About 30 seconds of that all the lights went away and the truck started idling rough again.

 

SOOOOO...

 

What can cause spitting, sputtering, acting like it has a dead battery, then all the sudden a fully charged battery, then a dead battery after that? I'M SO LOST HERE!!! HELP ME!!

[shredder2011]

possibly be an alternator? Would that explain the spitting and sputtering along with the battery dying? but what i'm unsure about is how my battery magically seems full after about 5 minutes after the truck died.

[white1500]

Check your battery cables. Start with the lowest hanging fruit.

[thewhitestallion]

check the ground cable that goes from the neg(-) post to the frame. make sure the wire is in good working order and not rusty or frayed. make sure the connection from the post to the wire is good then make sure the connection from the frame to the wire is good. if that checks out i would go to a reputable place and have the battery load tested and checked. if that checks out as well i would look into possibly replacing the alternator.

[Mckenzie]

Alternator, get it checked. When mine was dying on the way to work it was sputtering real bad

[mike94silverado]

I had an alternator go out this way too

[MikeInCtown]

Low voltage would cause the combustion process to be screwed up for sure, hence the strange smell. My vote is also for battery cables, then alternator check. With the slowly dimming lights I am thinking alternator.

[maplesig]

Sounds like alternator.

[shredder2011]

haha funny thing though is the same exact thing just happened to me again tonight with my moms ford explorer... 2 nights in a row doesn't seem right... especially on 2 different makes and models of vehicles