Hey all - I have a few questions about the charging system on my '05 EX with the 6.0 PSD.

A little over a week ago I started having the battery light coming on periodically. Sometimes if I get the revs up, or shut down rear air it would go out.

I have an Edge (monitoring only - not tuning), and I started monitoring the voltage on it, and it would fluctuate dramatically from 11.7 up to 13.7.

It was still running the stock alternator from '05, so I went ahead yesterday and bought/installed a remanufactured one from advance auto. Once the new alternator was installed, the battery light went off, and hasn't come back on since, but the Edge is still only showing at most 13.8, lowest 12.9 and seems to average around 13.6 or so.

I put a multimeter on the batteries with the engine running and the voltage was a constant 13.7 or so with some very minor fluctuation (.01) when the engine is rev'd.

I put a multimeter directly on the alternator positive post and am getting a flat 14.07.

The number at the alternator seems perfect (should be 14.1 right?), at the batteries seems a little low (should be the same as whats at the alternator right?), and at the edge gauge its nuts - no way voltage should be bouncing that much.

I'm not sure where my problem is, or if I even have a problem since I wasn't monitoring the voltage via the edge until the battery light came on, so not sure what it was at when it was running fine.

Is the voltage bounce at the Edge just related to how the ECM reads the voltage and passes it to the OBD port?

Is the voltage at the batteries ok at roughly .5v lower than what the alternator is putting out? That seems to me to be a little too much v-drop over the short run from the alt to the batteries.


Additional info...

Batteries are about 3 months old and both were replaced at the same time.

I have ordered a 185A alternator from DC Power (it should be here next week sometime), and I have all of the cable and parts to add a 1/0 wire from the alt directly to the batteries, as well as do the "big 3" upgrade.


*** On another note, I never did figure out how to properly relieve the tension on the belt tensioner, and ended up sitting on top of the motor pulling up on the belt until it cleared the alternator pulley. The fact that I could do that probably means I need a new belt, but I'm not sure I could get a new one on without relieving the tension, and it also looked like the fan might have to come off to get a belt on - whatever engineer designed the belt system on these trucks should quit his job!

 

I can field this one...

I just went through the same thing with my truck and here's what I found.

The stock alternator on the Excursion is a 110 amp small case alternator, which if you ask me is a dinky alternator. Some Super Duties came with a 140 amp large case alternator that does a much better job keeping up.

The problem with re-man alternators: The regulator

I'd been through 3 Autozone alternators in the space of 6 months and finally ended up with one that could maintain steady voltage: 13.5 volts. The current one I have now could maintain a steady 13.5 at OBD, but at the batteries it would hold 13.7-13.8 volts and not the magic 14-14.5 volts. It could somewhat keep up with me having the lights, fogs, and both A/C's running, but it would occasionally drop too low for my taste and comfort. (12-12.5)

I'd had enough and on a whim decided to take it to a local alternator and starter rebuilder. I yanked it off the truck and they hooked it up to all kinds of machines and found that the regulator was bad. They pulled it apart to inspect the rest of it, slapped a new regulator on it, and bam 14.2 volts.

Now, even with both A/Cs running, headlights, and fogs on, it's able to maintain a consistent 14-14.2 volts, dipping to the occasional 13.8 volts.

So if you have a local rebuilder near you, have them check it out since they seem to put lower rated regulators on these re-mans. You can always keep your re-man as a spare.

I went with a 2/0 for the charge wire from the battery to the alternator, but make sure you have it fused as well. I used one of these:


Got the 200 amp fuse from mouser.com

I'm also doing this cable upgrade:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...e-upgrade.html

I did it on my 7.3 Excursion with the exception of the charge wire and my truck starts, runs, and drives SO much better.

Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - View Single Post - What did you do to the X today?

I plan on doing the 6.0's wire upgrade this weekend if finances allow.

Getting the belt off on a 6.0 is a bit of a challenge...

Ford was "nice" enough to put a kick stand on the tensioner, but NOT nice enough to make it easy to reach the tensioner. So what did I do?

I'm a mammoth sized human, so I simply grab the belt close to the tensioner and lift it off the alternator pulley. You need to zip tie it to the CAC pipe otherwise it will fall off the other pulley's and you'll find out whatelse Ford didn't do us a favor on.

Putting it back on is the reverse of the above, if you can get the first few "ribs" on, you can bump the starter a few times and the truck will take care of the rest. Just make sure the belt is square on the tensioner.

That DC power alternator should do right by you, be sure to follow up and let us know how it goes.

 

I do plan to keep the re-man as a spare, and if I can find a local rebuilder, I'll have the original one rebuilt and maybe have the regulator checked on the new re-man..... speaking of this, where do you look for an alternator rebuilder? I did a quick google search for my area, and got one hit in the yellow pages for a little hole in the wall place that has since closed.

What voltage are you getting at the alternator post now that you're getting 14.2 at the batteries?

I'm getting right at 14.1 at the post, so not sure that I can make an argument for a bad alternator/regulator. Its pretty solid and doesn't fluctuate much at all.

I'm just not sure why the .5v or so drop from the alt to the bats - maybe the new wiring will help that though.



I'm using 1/0 gauge which by itself shouldn't have a problem with 200amps, but I'm way overdoing it.

I'm planning on running a new 1/0 wire from neg(-) to neg(-) on the batteries, as well as a new 1/0 wire from pos(+) to pos(+) on the batteries, then running 1/0 from the alternator to the pos(+) terminal on each battery. I also plan to run a 1/0 ground from the alternator mount bolt to the neg(-) terminal of each battery, and a new ground from the neg(-) on each battery to the frame.

I saw a guy with this setup and it looked pretty sweet and should eliminate ANY power problems (can you say overkill?).

I have the 200amp ANL fuses, and will be fusing all of the pos(+) connections within about a foot or less of the batteries.

Please post up some pics of your wire upgrade when you're done - would love to see how others are doing it!


I know what you mean - I saw the nifty little stand and thought "what a great idea" - and it is, but only if you can actually release enough tension to actually engage the stand!

I'm not small myself (6'4" 260), and I pretty much did the same thing with the belt - I was kind of surprised how easy (relatively) it was to pull enough slack on the belt to get it over the alternator pulley.

Do you know - does the fan actually have to come off to get a new belt on???



I have high hopes for the DC Power alternator, though I've been pretty disapointed with their service to this point. It listed as "in stock" on their site, and I ordered on 7/1 - I finally managed to get in touch with them over the phone on Wed (7/9) and they said that they're hoping to get it out by the end of this week, and it "should" be here by mid next week sometime. 2+ weeks to ship a part that's in stock is ridiculous and unacceptable in my book, and that's why I had to spend $150 to go get a re-man to get me by till it gets here.

I'll be sure and post back once it gets here and is installed.






Thank for the help!

 

I've been wondering that myself and I actually plan on finding out later today when I get home.

You just have to one up me don't you, LMBO!

I've heard of people grounding out the alternator and now that you mention it, I plan on doing the same. I have a few Oreilly rewards coupons that need redeeming so it shoud soften the blow to my wallet, lol!


I had Powerstroke Enginuities bulletproof my engine and I kept wondering why Dorian kept insisting that I replace the belt. I glanced at the engine earlier, but I just didn't really look at the whole fan assembly. It's MUCH easier on a 7.3 though...

If you think the 6.0 scary, you should see the 6.4 and 6.7


I talked to ED at FICMrepair.com he actually stocks them and gets them in pallets at a time. This way when you order it, he ships it, and you don't have to way 3 years to get it direct from DC power.

Glad I could help!

 

Please post back what you find - I'm really curious to see if you have the same .5v drop to the bats. Your alternator may just be putting out that much more at the post.




Wish I'd have known that before I ordered direct from them - thanks for the info though!

 

Just FYI.....

I did some digging and stared at the belt diagrams for a while and couldn't seem to make sense of how the belt installs without taking the fan off.

Then I did a google image search of the belt on a 6.0 PSD and some great images come up (of the front of the engine with the cab/radiator removed so you could clearly see the entire routing path) and it all clicked...... the fan is attached to the water pump, and the water pump stays outside the belt (driven by the non-ribbed side of the belt), so it CAN be removed and installed without removing the radiator/fan/etc.

Now, it looks like it would be a PITA to get it all routed back through all the right places, but at least I know it can be done and how it goes on.

I'm a very visual person (and my wife would say "a little slow" ), so I just needed to see an actual picture of it to visualize.

I would post the pics in case anyone else cares, but I don't want to take someone elses stuff that may be copyrighted, or come from a different site - but everyone should be able to find the pictures just by doing a google image search.

 

Ok - Quick update (in case anyone cares)


The DC Power folks drug things out too long (was going to end up being almost 2 months to get the alternator that was "in stock") - so I canceled the order and placed a new order from Ed at FICMRepair.com.....$20 cheaper and arrived in 2 days! (thanks Ed)

Went to take off the reman unit that I installed to get me by until the HO alt got here, and ran into an issue.... when I installed the reman unit, I could barely get the ternsion off of the belt, and couldn't get the little kickstand to hold it. This time, I got the tension off (kick stand still wouldn't hold it) but the tensioner would not re-engage.

So......at 1200 on Sat, I called Advance Auto and they didn't have a tensioner in stock. Ford dealer is at least a 30 min drive, and they close at 1pm, so I got on the phone with them. They wanted $260 for the tensioner!!!

Not like I have much choice since I cant have the EX down till I order one online, so I head out the door to the dealership to try and get there before they close. On my way, I passed an autozone that I forgot about, so stopped in to see if they had it....$84 later, I have one and headed back to install. The duralast one that they sold me seems to be of the same quality as the OEM one, but if anyone has experience with these failing and can justify spending almost $200 more for the one from the dealer, please let me know.

Found out that changing the tensioner isn't too bad if the alt, upper fan shroud, and passenger battery are all out! 10 minutes later, new tensioner installed, alternator installed, and belt installed.

Now it works like a charm - it was driving me nuts...everyone says that its so easy - pull the belt, engage the kickstand, remove belt - but I could never get that to work. Turns out thats because the tensioner was bad. With the new tensioner, it works like a charm - kickstand holds it, and just pull a little and the kickstand pops out and the belt gets tight!

With the new DC Power alternator, I'm getting 14.7V at the alternator post, and after upgrading all of the wiring at the batteries, and adding new wiring, I'm getting 14.6V at the batteries, and right around 14V on the insight volt gauge. Fully loaded with front and rear AC on high, radio on, and lights on, I'm still reading 13.6-13.8v at the insight. HUGE improvement!

 

I have the DC power 320 amp, PC of chit in my opinion.
It's was used for 3 weeks by me and after it's return from DC Power it sits in a box as a spare. I prefer, the OEM 140 or even 110. My system shows 14.2 at alt. and averages 13.7 in the cab ( loss of .5 is normal when taking a reading from port regardless of unit used).
Also, my DC power 320 is there flagship alternator painted blue and cost around $900. What crap! Just my .02

 

I had the DC 270 installed a few months ago with the wire kit Ed sells. It works great volts never drop under 14.1

 

I too have had good experience with my dc power alt...aftermarket parts store units were terrible for me.

 

I found taking the alternator off was the easiest way of getting the serpentine belt off.
1/0 copper building wire is rated 150 amps, welding cable is probably 200 amps. Im on my 4th alternator now, trying the 250 amp dc one, with 1/0 cable fused for 250 amps.

 

So what's the verdict on DC Power? I was looking at their 270 alt.

 

So far I'm happy with it (the 185amp), but I've only had it for about a week now.

All the research I did, it seems like most people like them - a little pricey, but you get what you pay for.

I had an issue with them, but it was with communication and getting it delivered from them. I ended up ordering from Ed at FICMrepair.com (he sells their alts) and it was a great experience!

 

I've only had my 250 for about 6 months. works great voltage is 14.25-14.75. I load tested it and it delivered 247 amps

 

The 270XP series you just can't go wrong with. It's an amazing piece of design engineering and what I run on my own 6.0. The 185 amp OEM series is solid in its own right, but the XP series has dramatically better windings.

What is needed is application dependent, of course. Conveniently, we stock both.