Voltmeter Acting Up
Voltmeter Acting Up Well my alternator went out the other day so i ended up buying a duralast one from Auto Zone, i wasnt bout to pay 300 for another OEM and plus they had it on hand. But i have read on here that the Duralast ones are junk. Anyways now voltmeter acts kind od wierd. Like whenever i use my blinkers it pulses with the blinker...everytime it blinks the volts drop. And it always rund way up towards 15-15.5V. I am not sure how accurate the guage is in the car but is it spose to run that high. Everything works good now...I am just wondering if i should get rid of the the Duralast and get something good before it leaves me stranded somewhere. I drive 3 hours one way every weekend and i dont feel like having to leave my car sit or get stranded somewhere because my alternator decides to take a dump on me. So what do you guys think. Any suggestions would be great. Thanx
Well i'm still going through this and my "autozone replacement" lasted 80 miles...Before i could even turn the old one in for core! I had the old one rebuilt and returned the reman one. Not sure about the duralast brand but i like my rebuilt one. When i first start my car it goes way up almost to the mark after the 13v mark, then works it's way down to around 14 and fluctuates a little when blinker is on, but not much. Still trying to figure out if it's actually fixed or not...
William
William
Yeah I am not sure. My battery never dies or anything so i think its still charging enough and everything. But I think I am going to take it back and get my money back. I dont like how the meter fluctuates. I dont think the blinkers should pull it down like that. Im sure its got a cheapo regulator in it that wont last much longer so im gonna go with a brand new OEM one. I can get a decent cut back home at the GM dealer so i think i can get about 100 bucks off. So for only 50 bucks more than the duralast ill be happy. But does everyones voltmeter go way up to like 15volts on startup and then settle down? Or is ist just us?
Mine goes up to 15v on start up then comes down to a little past the 13v mark
As for blinkers making the needle move, mine don't (still the stock alt)
Hate the part store "rebuilt" alternators, they're not worth **** anymore
As for blinkers making the needle move, mine don't (still the stock alt)
Hate the part store "rebuilt" alternators, they're not worth **** anymore
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 5,399
Likes: 3
From: Jacksonville, FL
I just had battery problems so was checking my voltage with a DVM on start ups - it was always 14.5 to 14.8 volts, then went down. A friend of mine had alt problems, tried two rebuilt ones before springing for a new GM unit.
ya thats what I think im going to do. Get a new GM one coming and put that on and take this one back to AZ and get my 150 bucks back. These rebuilt aftermarket parts nowadays are junk. Im surprised they still put a lifetime warranty on them.
