I just replaced a duralast alternator from autozone w/ lifetime warranty along with my oem p/s pump that I picked up at a junk yard about 3 weeks ago. Today I was driving listening to music and all of a sudden my check gauge light came on. I disconnected my head unit so I would not drain anymore battery. Now The battery is holding charge but only around 10 amps where the yellow line starts. I parked my car left it parked and the alarm works and dome lights etc like normal. When I park or unlock doors everything is normal. When I start the car it starts up fine but the check gauge light is back on. Now when I am cruising above 3k rpm the check gauge light goes away but if I get stuck at a light or drop below 3k rpms the check gauge light comes back on. Now I am torn between is it a bad alternator or a battery that is not working. Since the car sits throughout the winter I would love to blame the battery especially because I had just changed the alternator out 3 weeks ago. But the other side of me feels as if it may be the alternator because of the duralast crap that sell at autozone. Since I have a lifetime warranty on the alternator it is not the end of the world but a pain to climb under the car again and change. Now if you had to take a guess would it be the old battery that is shot or is it the duralast alternator. 3k plus its fine and even at lights it pretty much sits at 10 amps and doesn't increase but also doesn't stall out. I am going to get both tested tomorrow regardless but since it seems to be making the check guage light go away at 3k doesn't that mean that the alternator is giving power back or is this just a false hope or can it be my alternator just not doing its job? is it the cheap battery that can't hold charge? What do you guys think?

 

The battery has obviously held a charge to some degree if you are still able to get the engine restarted even with the apparent no charge condition while driving/idling.

I wonder if you're exciter wire is making good contact. It's the little red wire that plugs into the top of the alternator. The connectors often get damaged during removal if any significant tension is put on them.

If not that, then I'd guess a **** quality rebuild on the alternator.

 

its the alternator for sure the battery wouldnt do that and if the car starts you know the battery is good. take a load test and check the battery to be 100% and check the alternator and see if your getting 13 volts

 

if it was the exciter wire the alternator would not work at all. so with him having 10 amps im guessing the alternator windings inside are ******* up

 

Yea I am suspecting its the alternator also. I appreciate your feedback guys. I am going to call autozone in the morning and see when they can order this alternator for me because they never have anything I need in stock. This is the second duralast alternator I am going through in 1 1/2 years. I am starting to feel like its hit or miss with these things. I am just waiting for Autozone to be like "you used your lifetime limit lol". Duralast needs to stop making junk. Whats the point of a lifetime warranty if I have to swap this crap out every 3 weeks. I'd rather pay a little more and have piece of mind. All in all not the end of the world just annoying. Thanks for the help.

 

i have been hearing alot of people complaing on new alternator for the 4th gen. thats why i always rebuild my own. but if you have a warranty. i just swap it out and ask them how many times until they give you back your money because this is a joke. so you can buy a nice one that wont **** out.

 

seriously for the $160 they charge plus the core would be enough to buy a sick alternator that will power my electrical system perfectly and the piece of mind would be priceless. I wouldn't need a stupid warranty. I am going to give it another shot. They say 3rd times a charm and if that doesn't work I am going to request my money back because this is getting ridiculous. I feel like every time I deal with Autozone lately its been a hassle. I am either arguing with an employee because of a mistake they made or fighting to get my $ back or I am sitting twirling my thumbs because they don't have any of the parts for our cars in stock. I wish the alternator wasn't located directly under the power steering pump either. That has problems written all over it. I guess I am just venting but you can see why I am annoyed. I was considering relocating the alternator but I feel like I'd mess that up too. I am beginning to become a pro at changing alternators looking at the bright side of things lol.

 

I don't think he intended to say 10 amps, unless he installed an ammeter in the car, which seems unlikely since it's not 1972. I'm assuming it was 10 volts, which would be a no charge condition and a low battery reading due to such.

The exciter can work intermittently if the connector is making only slight or occasional contact. This might explain the return of charging at higher rpm. Or it could simply be a bad alternator. It's one of the two IMO.

 

I've seen people on here talking about PS fluid leaking on an alt and killing it. Maybe some in the wiring?

 

I would recommend getting the truck alternator for our cars. It's a simple fix and used ones work much better than brand new for the fbodies. Good luck!

 

I've had great luck with new GM alternators sold at the dealer parts counter. My luck has been pretty bad with the Autozone-type rebuilds though.

Lots of people seem to think that the truck alternator is a requirement to "fix" these issues. These cars had no problem charging from the factory with their assembly line alternators, so if your electrical system is stock then a GOOD rebuild/stock replacement will work just fine. If you have additional electrical load, then you may want to consider the upgrade.

 

I've bought a few of the brand new Remy alternators from Advance and they've been very good. Also, no, the few were for different cars. None were on the same car. The one I replaced just last week also fixed the flickering lights issue as well.

 

It's the alternator. Take it auto zone and they'll test it for u. Like someone already said get an alternator out of any gm truck from like 99-06. They have more power.

 

Well swapped out the alternator things seem to be working alright. The red wire connection did seem a little loose and re tightened and crimped that connection just to be sure. When I had the alernator tested at the store it did turn out to be defective so whatever. The new one seems like its running strong, lets see for how long. I do have an after market sound system with 2 amps in my ride. A Boston Acoustic g3 sub 10" but I do not get any dimming unless I have my system cranked up pretty high. My setup worked fine with the stock alternator from GM for years. Even the first Duralast one I had seemed to have lasted about 8 months before I swapped it out. The only reason why I swapped the original one out was because at the time the p/s pump leaked which I had recently replaced. I was also starting to get some dimming action so I figured why not replace it, its free and It seemed to be on its way out. Not to mention changing an alternator is a piece of cake without a p/s pump in your way. Back to the previous post, Yes in my original comment I meant to say 10 volts not 10 amps lol my bad.

I am considering purchasing a cap for my sound system but would that lengthen the life of my alternator? Some people swear by it and some people say its a waste of $. I guess it may lessen the load by just storing the electricity that the sub needs but does it make a difference? If so how many farad would be a good amount to go with? any recommendations on brands? Don't need anything too fancy here. I am pushing around 200 watts to the speakers and around 250-300rms to the sub.

My last question is if this alternator fails on me again and I do decide to get one from a GM truck does it have the same mounting brackets? If so what model truck should I buy it from? I would most likely have to stick with autozone's model because after enough arguing with them, they pretty much made clear that they would rather not give me my money back and would rather keep replacing them. Worse part is they tried telling me that I have to pay the core for every one of these trades for the amount of $49.99.

What kind of lifetime warranty is that? I paid the core the first time their is no reason I would have to keep having to pay it when returning the old one. I literally had to explain myself like 20 times to the manager who made it a big deal. So I said screw this Autozone and took the broken alternator and the receipt to another store. After explaining myself to the other manager 5x times I got my entire refund back. Its just such a hassle dealing with them and its always the same thing every time this happens which is why its so frustrating dealing with them. You say lifetime warranty, that doesn't mean your store gets $50 dollars every time your ghetto parts break.

All in all its working now so thanks again for all the help always grateful for you guys.

 

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