venture alternator ?

[fireball]

I know this is off the truck topic but a bud of mine has a Venture van and is having a problem with the battery going dead every once in a while for no reason.When he's driving it every so often the battery light will come on and if he shuts it off it will not start without a boost. He's had it to the dealer ,they scanned it and found nothing so their solution was to put a new battery in it.Another local mechanic friend suggested trying an alternator but an alternator costs over $600 Canadian here from a dealer so buying one to just try is out of the question and apparently he cant find another one anywhere around here.Is it possible that the regulator might have developed a short in it or some other component causing the battery to go dead so suddenly?I am going to test the van to see if there is any draw on the system when its off but we are kind of in the dark here so any help wouild be great.

[GM-Tech]

A drain on the battery wouldn't cause the battery light to come on. This is alternator related, though whether it's the alternator or related wiring is something that would require some diagnosis.

 

I've seen broken wires at the alternator cause this, even poor connections at the starter. Alternators aren't fun to replace on those beasts, so you want to make sure that's what it is before replacing it, not to mention the cost as you pointed out.