Got Lucky

[dorkweed]

Traveling down to SEMO on Friday for my annual snow goose hunt;  we had an "occurrence"!!!

 

About 100 miles into the trip, I notice my LP pressure dropping down to about 5-7psi less than normal.  Thought it may be weather related;  as it was in the single digits driving.  I was thinking possibly fuel gelling, but hoping not.  But I just happened to glance at the OEM idiot gauges on the dash, and my "changing/alternator" gauge is running well below 14 on the gauge.  In fact it was running at where it does after starting the truck up.....................not bottomed in the red, just real low and not normal.

 

Tell my traveling Bud, "We may have a problem here".  So I go to pull off at the next exit, and as soon as I touched the brakes, the gauge comes back up and the LP pressure goes back to normal.  We pull into a gas station, and I pop the hood to check under there, as I just had a fair bit of the front of the engine compartment apart when I replaced my fan clutch about 3 weeks ago;  I'm thinking maybe something got bumped/loose/broken etc.  I giggled the 2 connections on the back of the alternator while the engine was running, and the LP and charge gauges dropped again.  Checked other connections, tapped on the alternator, etc. and nothing.

 

Told my Bud, we'd better find an auto parts place here in town that can check alternator output and if they have an alternator in stock.  JFYI, this happened as we were traveling the Interstate around Kankakee, IL..........................a good sized town.  Anyhow, my Buds on the smart phone calling local auto parts places;  and one about 2 miles away can test the alternator and has an alternator for my truck in stock.  Driving there, the gauges decide to come back again. Go figure!!

 

Get there, the guy comes out, and sticks his leads on the drivers battery.....................15+volts......................I asked him to do the other side......................just under 15 volts.  He says the voltage regulator is probably going.  Should normally be about 14.5 volts, correct??    It's still the OEM alternator, and at the time this happened, it was just under 220,000 miles.  So I buy the "remanufactured" alternator for $140 and we do swap in the parking lot......................had tools with me.

 

Start truck up, gauge is normal and had no other problems on the trip.  Lost about an hour though heading down.  Sure glad it didn't happen in BUFU, Egypt and I needed to get a tow.

 

I'm always checking my gauges as I drive................glad I did here.

 

 

[AH64ID]

Good catch!

 

The voltage regulator isn't in the alternator, it's part of the ECM.

 

If you have different voltages between batteries the cause is almost always a bad/loose crossover cable.

 

With temps that low the charge voltage will be around 15V, I have seen the desired voltage as high as 15.0xx in the teens and colder so I wouldn't think anything bad about 15V and it means the alternator was working properly when checked.

 

Your alternator was either failing, or it had a loose connection.

 

Hows the hunting???

[dorkweed]

Good catch!

 

The voltage regulator isn't in the alternator, it's part of the ECM.

 

If you have different voltages between batteries the cause is almost always a bad/loose crossover cable.

 

With temps that low the charge voltage will be around 15V, I have seen the desired voltage as high as 15.0xx in the teens and colder so I wouldn't think anything bad about 15V and it means the alternator was working properly when checked.

 

Your alternator was either failing, or it had a loose connection.

 

Hows the hunting???

 

 

18 birds on Saturday................got skunked on Sunday.  This has been a weird year for snow geese.

 

Yeah John, I do need to check that cross over battery cable.  I've read where that can be problematic.  What should it Ohm out at???  I did pull all the grounds I could find a while back and cleaned them up in addition to the battery terminals and leads that attach to them.  This is the OEM alternator and it's almost 11 years old, it was below 0 when I left home and about 7*F outside when this occurred........................so not totally unexpected really.

 

But why does this crap always happen when I go to Missouri snow goose hunting???

[AH64ID]

I am not sure on the ohms, but based on it's size it shouldn't be very high. Generally the issue is that they are loose.

 

Mighty Whitey must not like you killing snow geese.

[dorkweed]

I am not sure on the ohms, but based on it's size it shouldn't be very high. Generally the issue is that they are loose.

 

Mighty Whitey must not like you killing snow geese.

 

 

 

It'd seem that for sure.............................at least recently.  Although, MightyWhitey has made at least 18 trips down there...........with 2 of them going even further South to Forrest City, AR;  last year, and the year before.

 

 

Don't think it could be "loose", because I checked all that a while back, like I said in my prior post.  I didn't check the Ohm/resistance though when I did all this though.

 

Hopefully it won't matter;  but my "new" alternator, was "remanufactured" in Mexico!!