broke out the Ty (and broke it I think .... )

[jjorgensen52]

decided I would take the Ty down to the movies today since it was a nice day. Bad idea on my part :lol: ... driving home, about 9:25pm, I get to a stoplight 3 miles from my house... and all the sudden the voltage gauge bottoms out. Uh-oh. Keep driving, start shutting stuff off. Within 1/2 mile, I'm driving with nothing but lights, shut down all interior lights and electronics. Truck is barely staying alive, have intermittent check engine and steady check gauges (at this point the gauges have stopped registering and the digital temp under the dash is cylcing through digits from 0 - 999 and then back ). At 1k rpm, truck is cutting out about every third rotation and just barely running. Goes on like this for another 5 minutes, now 1/2 mile from my house. Then, suddenly I have 14v again and everything is back to normal. WTF? Is this my alternator on its way out, the voltage regulator, or do I just have gremlins?

 

[KFC_Or_Bust]

Re: broke out the Ty (and broke it I think .... )

Voltage regulator is internal on our cars so if it's shot then it's a better choice to just replace the whole alternator. Did you hit a bump or something to cause this and then fix it?? Even if not be sure to check and tighten all your ground wires and all the normal stuff assosciated with this kind of electrical problem. Might be a good idea to buy the alternator and keep it with you just in case it ever does crap out, it takes 15 minutes to change one in the pitch dark so it'd be an easy fix even if you were stranded.

 

[Captain Morgan]

Re: broke out the Ty (and broke it I think .... )

is it just me, or does it seem like everytime your truck leaves the garage something new breaks, lol

 

[MikeRenz]

Re: broke out the Ty (and broke it I think .... )

the peg in my alternator was loose once and would cuase this kind of behavior. Took the alt to a shop to be tested and it was fine...untill i'd jiggle the peg.

 

[KFC_Or_Bust]

Re: broke out the Ty (and broke it I think .... )

the peg in my alternator was loose once and would cuase this kind of behavior. Took the alt to a shop to be tested and it was fine...untill i'd jiggle the peg.

Definitely check that out, I completely forgot about that. My parts 94 Blazer is the same way, it got vandalized when it got stuck in the woods and some kids threw a rock into the engine bay and knocked the whole peg in the back of the alty loose. The volts dropped to nothing and the car had no power til you hit something and jiggled it back in place and then it was fine like nothing happened. We ended up jamming a screwdriver between the peg and part of the engine just so we could keep it running so we could romp through the woods some more.

 

[TYTILIDIE]

Re: broke out the Ty (and broke it I think .... )

I think its safe to say your alternator is trashed.

 

[jjorgensen52]

Re: broke out the Ty (and broke it I think .... )

is it just me, or does it seem like everytime your truck leaves the garage something new breaks, lol

Nope, not every time. Just every time it's been sitting for a long time and I drive it. Then the troubles that weren't so bad before have had a chance to get worse

I think the peg in the back of the alt. is a little loose, I will double check it but I was driving on smooth pavement when it started, then over bumpy stuff, then on smooth again when it stopped.

Most likely, just needs a new alt... it's had 2 before, this one has about reached the end of it's expected life anyway :roll:

 

[91blazins10]

Re: broke out the Ty (and broke it I think .... )

maybe because its always sitting everytime you start it up it puts a big load on the alt, b/c the battery is always low. :dunno:

 

[jjorgensen52]

Re: broke out the Ty (and broke it I think .... )

maybe because its always sitting everytime you start it up it puts a big load on the alt, b/c the battery is always low. :dunno:

Eh, had thought about that one too ... happens whether the battery is low from sitting or no... has been going off and on (but nowhere this badly) for a while