Lost My Alternator Today

[Guest Friz]

...minding my own business and "blink", there's the "Battery" light and my voltmeter was down to about 11 volts.

Drove home with no problems (about 20 miles), though. Have y'all ever noticed that when you have a problem like that and you have to get home, you hear and feel every little squeak, bump, vibration, etc, that your truck makes?

Replaced the alternator and no other problems. Got the battery on the trickle charge for the night.

That's $110.00 I wasn't planning on spending.

[Kansas Kid]

I'm pretty much just waiting for my alternator to go out before long.  I think it has about 50k miles on it, and thats all the further they were lasting for the previous owner.  I just hope when it does go out that I'm not in the middle of no where......

[Shaners]

That stinks man...  $110 seems like a decent price though.  I thought GM alternators with the built in voltage regulator were alot more money than that.

[BIG BLUE]

Friz,

 

Make sure you check the battery and connections too, especially if you have the Delco battery.  Those side post designs are horrible and often leak.  Look for any corrosion or white residue.  That lead spacer design between the 2 pos. connectors can be a source of bad connection and can cause "load dumping" back to the alternator and shorten the life.

 

I've known guys who have put 2 or 3 alternators in these trucks before realizing the poor battery design and corrosion sneaking down the cables was the root cause.  I've had to repacle alternators because of this and now run the Optima Red Top battery in my trucks and have not had this problem since.

 

Good Luck,

BIG BLUE