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Voltage Regulation from PCM

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Old Oct 29, 2008 | 05:30 PM
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Default Voltage Regulation from PCM

Took car in for electrical diagnostic to try and take care of flickering lights (all) and volt guage. Alternator tests good on machines from auto parts stores. Mechanic said it is one of 2 things, but he cannot tell which.

1. Voltage Regulation from Alternator

2. Voltage Regulation from PCM itself.

A new Alternator is around $100, and I have no idea what a new PCM costs.

The two specifics I got from him were that the regulation is actually pretty close, just not "right on". Second was that it was running right at 13.7-14, and then one, and only one of the times he revved it whilst checking it out, he saw the volts drop down to 12.

I have been told that if it is actually the computer, then all it can really do is annoy me with the flickering lights, that it will not actually affect how the car runs. To that end, it does not seem to.

In the next few weeks, I was planning on getting a full dyno tune done. Can this issue affect the tune, or ability to have it done ?

Chewie
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Old Oct 29, 2008 | 08:03 PM
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All the PCM does is turn on the alternator, from what the service manual says.
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Old Oct 30, 2008 | 10:10 AM
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Done always believe the "electrical diagnostic" at a garage or parts store. My alternator on my 2002 had only 25,300 miles on it is all and my lights flickered too. Especially when at idle, or just off idle. My voltage was wacky too. The diagnostic test showed everything was fine. I replaced my alternator with a new factory one and now all flickering is gone, my charge voltage is back, everything is solidly bright when my lights are on. This is a common problem with those GM alternators apparently. There are a lot of posts with the same problem description.
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Old Oct 30, 2008 | 04:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Goldfinger911
Done always believe the "electrical diagnostic" at a garage or parts store. My alternator on my 2002 had only 25,300 miles on it is all and my lights flickered too. Especially when at idle, or just off idle. My voltage was wacky too. The diagnostic test showed everything was fine. I replaced my alternator with a new factory one and now all flickering is gone, my charge voltage is back, everything is solidly bright when my lights are on. This is a common problem with those GM alternators apparently. There are a lot of posts with the same problem description.
Parts store machine is just a static test. With no load, the alternator could be fine...but throw in a small load (ecu, lights, etc.) and you might have issues. Parts store machine can't test that. Parts store "on car" test is just as reliable (or unreliable). It test the charging system as a whole...not each individual component.
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Old Oct 30, 2008 | 04:38 PM
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Originally Posted by fast377
Parts store machine is just a static test. With no load, the alternator could be fine...but throw in a small load (ecu, lights, etc.) and you might have issues. Parts store machine can't test that. Parts store "on car" test is just as reliable (or unreliable). It test the charging system as a whole...not each individual component.
while I tend to agree, all of the store testers that I have seen are real load testers... that's Advance and Auto Zone here.
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Old Oct 30, 2008 | 04:57 PM
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Originally Posted by Frost
while I tend to agree, all of the store testers that I have seen are real load testers... that's Advance and Auto Zone here.
The advance here...no load tester. Some of the newer stores might.
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Old Oct 30, 2008 | 08:33 PM
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new alternator will fix your concern.
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Old Oct 30, 2008 | 09:33 PM
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The flickering is caused by a bad diode inside of the alternator. Replace the alternator or just dont worry bout it. sounds like it still works
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Old Oct 31, 2008 | 06:01 PM
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i would fix it before the dyno tune injector offset changes with voltage
in a perfect world it would be the same but jumping from 14.1v to 12v is
a big jump it might overshoot. tuning is too expensive to take a chance on it
getting an effed up logfile and tuning around an intermittent charging problem
i agree with the above posts a new alternator will fix it
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Old Oct 31, 2008 | 07:12 PM
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Thats on the list. That's enough votes for alternator. Any reccomendations, for the time being I was going to grab a new one at Advance.

Chewie
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