Alternator Question?
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Junior User
Joined: Jun 2006
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Alternator Question?
I was driving down the road and noticed radio coming and going. Then the A/C not cooling well and blower motor not putting out like it should. No warning lights appear. The Speedometer and the Tack then go all the way back to zero and then the transmission won't shift correctly , I had to rev the engine to get the truck to move and it would not shift into second gear then the engine and everything is dies and coasted it off to the side of the road. No power anywhere. All this takes place in about 2 minutes no warning!!!
Had the truck towed home. I replaced the alternator first because the batts were only 11 months old. The batts are Optima red tops and are supposedly good for 36 months.
<O:p
Started the truck with the new alternator, a fully charged battery I took out of my F-150 and one of the original batteries and it started (it's a bugger to jump start the 7.3L), while the truck was running I take the good battery out (the one from the F-150) and put the original one back in. The truck ran with both the original batteries for 5 minutes in idle no equipment running and just died.
<O:pThen I went to the Battery Store (in the F-150) and exchanged the two Optima Redtops (which they tested and were bad) and put two fresh brand new batteries in and the truck runs fine. Except.
The alternator is reading 12.07 and 12.27 at the battery posts. It should be around 13.5 - 13.7.<O:p></O:p>
<O:p></O:p>
The other strange thing is the Optima Batteries are only staying good for 11 to 16 months. The people at the battery shop were perplexed as to why I was only getting such a short amount of time out of the Optima batteries.<O:p></O:p>
<O:p></O:p>
I am wondering if I have other issues I should be looking at? And why such a short life span on the Optima's. The biggest concern is the truck dieing without much warning, not a fun thing if you are in a bad place!!<O:p></O:p>
<O:p></O:p>
Any info or input would be much appreciated!
Had the truck towed home. I replaced the alternator first because the batts were only 11 months old. The batts are Optima red tops and are supposedly good for 36 months.
<O:p
Started the truck with the new alternator, a fully charged battery I took out of my F-150 and one of the original batteries and it started (it's a bugger to jump start the 7.3L), while the truck was running I take the good battery out (the one from the F-150) and put the original one back in. The truck ran with both the original batteries for 5 minutes in idle no equipment running and just died.
<O:pThen I went to the Battery Store (in the F-150) and exchanged the two Optima Redtops (which they tested and were bad) and put two fresh brand new batteries in and the truck runs fine. Except.
The alternator is reading 12.07 and 12.27 at the battery posts. It should be around 13.5 - 13.7.<O:p></O:p>
<O:p></O:p>
The other strange thing is the Optima Batteries are only staying good for 11 to 16 months. The people at the battery shop were perplexed as to why I was only getting such a short amount of time out of the Optima batteries.<O:p></O:p>
<O:p></O:p>
I am wondering if I have other issues I should be looking at? And why such a short life span on the Optima's. The biggest concern is the truck dieing without much warning, not a fun thing if you are in a bad place!!<O:p></O:p>
<O:p></O:p>
Any info or input would be much appreciated!
Post Fiend
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 14,541
Likes: 2
From: Dallas-Ft. Worth
Are you sure it's a good alternator?? Those have been known to go bad pretty fast. Also, if you had a bad set of batteries, you can take out an alternator. I inevitably end up replacing an alternator after a battery (or batteries in the case of our trucks!).
The speedo/shifting thing sounds like the ABS sensor in the rear end to me, so you may have two separate issues going on.
Joe
The speedo/shifting thing sounds like the ABS sensor in the rear end to me, so you may have two separate issues going on.
Joe
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Junior User
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The ABS light came on and went away, i thought it was just because of the dead battery thing throwing the whole electrical off. I ran the diagnostic on it and I did not get any codes in regards to the ABS however the transmission has been shifting strangely in to 4th or overdrive. How hard is to to check / find replace that sensor?
Laughing Gas
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 909
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i would take care of one problem at a time as a bad alt will cause all kinds of bells and whistles to go off...and send you on a wild goose chase...as for my previous post u said you were gonna go take it to a shop to have it looked at did u make it yet?? when a regulator goes bad it can cause low voltage or a overcharge ive seen both.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Nov 2006
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no that is barely enough to run the truck's elec system..think of it like this the truck has to have a constant 12v power source to function...everything over that is sent to a remote location....I.E battery and stored for later use...you may have worn brushes or a weak regulator...of course check the tightness of the plugs at the back if all is good get a reman or new at advance auto.....and infact they should have checked voltage for you before puting in new batterys specially if you have had repeated problems...
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WishIhada,
Thanks for joining us over here!
I understand now that I probably do have a bad alternator and it was just put in today! I was not sure now I know
The real bummer part is that there are no returns on electrical parts from the Ford Parts Counter. Will get a new one tommorow and test it and see what reads.
Thanks for the help, again!
Thanks for joining us over here!
I understand now that I probably do have a bad alternator and it was just put in today! I was not sure now I know
The real bummer part is that there are no returns on electrical parts from the Ford Parts Counter. Will get a new one tommorow and test it and see what reads.
Thanks for the help, again!
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Postmaster
Joined: Nov 2003
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From: Utah County, UT
Originally Posted by twjull
WishIhada,
The real bummer part is that there are no returns on electrical parts from the Ford Parts Counter. Will get a new one tommorow and test it and see what reads.
Thanks for the help, again!
The real bummer part is that there are no returns on electrical parts from the Ford Parts Counter. Will get a new one tommorow and test it and see what reads.
Thanks for the help, again!
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Junior User
Joined: Jun 2006
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Originally Posted by cangim
There may not be returns, but there should definately be some type of warantee on the dang thing. If it is not working then they should replace it with another without any cost or hasle. You are essentially returning a failed unit, that has to be covered, if they don't honor that, then go somewhere else.
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Junior User
Joined: Jun 2006
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Back again with more mystery!
Changed out the alternator again, went and had the system checked at two different places.
First test the alt was putting out 11.79v at idle and 12.76v at 2200 rpm.
Second test (10 minutes later) alt was putting out 12.63V at idle and 13.1v at 2200 rpm.
Batteries both checked out good both tests.
Why is the alternator not putting out the 13.7v as expected? Is there an external regulator somewhere?
I pluged in my Superchip programmer (just using it for code reading not tuning) and it gives me the P0603 - Internal CTRL Mod KAM Error code. What does that mean?
Any insight would be appreciated!
Changed out the alternator again, went and had the system checked at two different places.
First test the alt was putting out 11.79v at idle and 12.76v at 2200 rpm.
Second test (10 minutes later) alt was putting out 12.63V at idle and 13.1v at 2200 rpm.
Batteries both checked out good both tests.
Why is the alternator not putting out the 13.7v as expected? Is there an external regulator somewhere?
I pluged in my Superchip programmer (just using it for code reading not tuning) and it gives me the P0603 - Internal CTRL Mod KAM Error code. What does that mean?
Any insight would be appreciated!
Postmaster
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 3,595
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From: Utah County, UT
The alternator has an internal regulator, I am not sure why you are not getting the output you should. Most the time if the batteries are down, then your numbers would be normal but then should come up as the batteries get charged. Have you run it for a while then checked to see what the voltage is about 20 min after been running?
Fleet Owner
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 25,090
Likes: 1,111
From: Rio Rico, AZ.
Are you measuring the volts at the alternator post or the batteries?
If you have good volts at the alt, the wiring is bad.
You also could try jumping to the field post for a second to see if the voltage spikes at the alt.
If you have good volts at the alt, the wiring is bad.
You also could try jumping to the field post for a second to see if the voltage spikes at the alt.
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Junior User
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The above tests were done after at least 30 mins. of driving.
I drove the truck all day today and everything seems to be working fine just low voltage when I tested again when I got home.
Is there something that would cause a voltage drain?
I drove the truck all day today and everything seems to be working fine just low voltage when I tested again when I got home.
Is there something that would cause a voltage drain?
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Junior User
Joined: Jun 2006
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Originally Posted by Kwikkordead
Are you measuring the volts at the alternator post or the batteries?
If you have good volts at the alt, the wiring is bad.
You also could try jumping to the field post for a second to see if the voltage spikes at the alt.
If you have good volts at the alt, the wiring is bad.
You also could try jumping to the field post for a second to see if the voltage spikes at the alt.