High Voltage
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From: the woodzies
High Voltage
Ok, I am supposed to be driving down to North Carolina tomorrow, I am leaving at 4 am. Last n ight I went to fill my truck up and noticed my headlights got very bright, so i switched my scangauge to read voltage and WOW it was like jumpoing around from 14.5 - 15.2 then dropping back to its normal range of 13.7-14. So i am guessing my alternator is going bad and I should probably replace it before I go drive for 12 hours straight. My question is where should I go to get it replaced for the saftey of my trip. I have all of the normal pards stores around me. I dont want to go to napa because it took 6 alternators from there to get a good one for my jeep, and I dont want it to die on me on my trip. any suggestions? Should I bite the bullet and go to Ford dealer? I wish I had one of those nice 200amp ones laying around on my shelf at home....
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From: the woodzies
Ok I have checked them before, but I will do it again. The batteries are around 6 monthes old, and I know the connections to the batteries are good. I will check the grounds. Is there any places in the wiring I should pay particular attention too?
As for the alternator, I dont beleive it is the origional. I bought the truck used and it has been on it since i purchased the truck. There are no mrkings on the alternator as far as I an tell to determin the amperage or manufacture. I have sporadically noticed in the past the batter light just blinmking for a second every once and a while.
As for the alternator, I dont beleive it is the origional. I bought the truck used and it has been on it since i purchased the truck. There are no mrkings on the alternator as far as I an tell to determin the amperage or manufacture. I have sporadically noticed in the past the batter light just blinmking for a second every once and a while.
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From: the woodzies
ok, when I check everything and if the connections and batteries are good, where would you reccomend I get an alternator in a pinch?
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From: the woodzies
ok, I went with the ford unit. I check batteries and cables they were all good. I went to the ford dealer to pick one up and just for kicks I went to see what it would cost to have ford install it. They said it would take 2.7 hours of labor to put it in.... HOLY COW.....I could do it in the parking lot quicker then that!
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From: Middle Tn.
ok, I went with the ford unit. I check batteries and cables they were all good. I went to the ford dealer to pick one up and just for kicks I went to see what it would cost to have ford install it. They said it would take 2.7 hours of labor to put it in.... HOLY COW.....I could do it in the parking lot quicker then that!
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From: the woodzies
I know but I had them do the diagnostics. and this was the time for just the labor. excluding parts ect. the alternator was right around 300. Dont get me wronge I like my dealer, but sometimes I really believe they will drag simple jobs out. When talking with the service man, he tried to argue with me, and then asked me if I actually knew how hard it was to remove the alternator on these 6.0s. I knida chuckled and said its not nearly as difficult as it was to rebuild my oil cooler, and I thought that wasrelativly straight forward. I just dont like being caught in a bind when I need a part or repair fast!
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From: Saratoga Springs,UT
X-2 here as well
My last Motocraft alternator didnt even go past 5K
It timed out on Warrenty at 13 monthsI had Ford do the diagnostic and Install too it came to $$500.00
Had I known then what I know Now I would have put a DC Power 270amp in at that time
When the MC reman died I went with a DC Power 190amp its almost 2 year old and has 12K on it And My stereo Pushes it Hard to
Not a Single Problem
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From: Saratoga Springs,UT
Great Point Mike
And the Battery Light on the Dash is Very Good Detecting a Bad Alternator THAT and a ScanGaugeII
little over $$200.00 for single alt system
I know some guys have 2 of these alternators carrey a Backup
Autozone Has been GREAT about Honoring there warrenty for me I didnt know how it would go when 1 Battery died on me only 1 was bad still in the free replacment time of warrenty Didnt Bat an Eye said grab 2 NEW Batterys
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From: Henderson, Nevada
For what its worth, the 2004 shop manual states that voltage in excess of 15.5 would indicate a bad alternator. Mine had a similar spike (based on scanquage) about 6-8 months ago with new batteries/connections good. On average mine puts out about 14.0-14.6 volts. No issues yet. I would keep an eye on it and monitor the scan guage. EDIT, sorry did not see the comment on you changing it out. My bad.
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