What A Night

[bosco200]

Well on my way to DQ with a few friends, get there, order, eat, then was told my lights were still on, I go outside and they are really dim, So I new I was gunna need a jump, so my friends roll started me fired right up, then after bout 15 seconds died, and it wouldn't roll start again, so my friend jumps me, I get about 1/8 mile down the road and my truck starts to sputter and dies, pitch black, no lights, so I finally coast to a road I pull in there, my friends pulled up behind me, first thing I thought was bad alternator, cuz the batteries only 3 days old, they jump me again, then She dies about 1/8 mile down the road but im going down hill, So im coasting with no light, no power steering, nothing, get to another road, friends jump me but we let it charge for a while this time, make it all the way into town bout 2 miles, and stop at a stop sign and the cars in front of me wont move, so i rev my truck up and they still wont move, so my truck dies again, friends jump, letting it charge, then the cops show up, asking me what Im doing, I guess the jumper cables going from my friends car to my truck wasn't very obvious, I told him my alternator was shot, he so ok that's fine, I un hooked the cables and was to make it all the way home bout 1/4 mile away, well that's my story of last night lol....so this morning took the alternator out, took it to AutoZone for a test, and FAIL....thank god thats what it was

[truckster]

Sorry to hear your nice cruise turned into a pain. I'm glad you were able to get it going again.

[cdowns]

take off two battery cables clean all 4ends and where they mount then reinstall two battery cables

[big_al_71]

Hate it when stuff like that happens..

[Indyuke]

Reminds me of something that happened to me a while back. I had driven to a town about 15 miles from my house, parked and spent a few hours at my inlaws. The truck ran fine the whole way there.
Time to go home, I fire it up and head off. It's dark out by then, so I turned on my lights and noticed that when I put the blinkers on they blink really slow and then soon not at all. My lights are also really dim... so much so that I can't see more than ten feet in front of the truck. So I drove 15 miles all the way back home, lights getting dimmer and dimmer, me refusing to use the turn signal since it didn't work anymore, the engine not even missing a beat. I get home fine.
The next morning I got out to do some "major" troubleshooting and repair, opened the hood and first thing I noticed was the charging wire had become disconnected from the alternator. I took my time and did the best repair job I could, had a good laugh and patted the top of the 15+ year old battery.

[bosco200]

Ok I got a new alternator but it only has one pully on it, so I need to take te 2 pullys off my my old and switch it to the new, but I can NOT get this nut to even budge!

[TrkEnvy]

I had a situation like this happen during a road trip. On our way back home my buddies altenator took a dump. Thankfully we were in diesels and his was a 12 valve so its completely mechanical. Mind you we were in the middle of nowhere in the middle of Utah and its getting dark. He has no lights, radio, brake lights, but his truck will run until he shuts it off.. Did I mention I love compression ignition? Anyway, he has to practically ride my rear bumper the rest of the way home because he cant see a thing. Good times, glad to hear you got the problem fixed.

[GASoline71]

Prolly not the Alternator... I bet the voltage regulator is shot. Its the little black box mounted by the drivers side headlight on the radiator support.

Unless you're runnin' an alternator with an internal regulator. Which these trucks did not come from the factory with.

Gary

[Indyuke]

Yeah, i'm running an internally regulated alternator. Bypassed the external one.

[ChevLoRay]

Impact wrench.....removes stubborn nuts.

[Hubscrub]

Originally Posted by ChevLoRay

Impact wrench.....removes stubborn nuts.

x2

[bosco200]

Thanks guys I got it off with an impact wrench....got the new alternator put on, runs drives like normal, but when you pull the light or turn the radio on she dies....So voltage regulator was next, got a new one put her, and shes back to normal!

[Clyde65]

I thought you had an internal VR on your alt?

[bosco200]

No its external

[bruceman1968]

Good job bosco200! Glad you got it running back to normal..

[GASoline71]

Originally Posted by Clyde65

I thought you had an internal VR on your alt?

Someone other than the OP posted about having an internal VR.

Gary

[Shyguy]

I am glad this was posted because it reminded me of what happened about a week ago. I got a call from one of my grandsons that his father was taken to the hospital in an ambulance from where he works because he was overcome by the extreme heat where his boss was having him work on a truck in the parking lot.

I jumped in the nearest vehicle, '71 Chevy and went to the hospital 30 miles away with no problem.

Three hours later after my son was released from the hospital I got in the truck to head home and it would not turn over, no click or nothing. I called my wife and she came up and we jump started it fine and I made it home without a problem.

The next day I take the battery to O'Rielly's to be charged and checked. A couple of hours later I went back and they couldn't find my battery, but said it checked out fine. After a bunch of head and b-tt scratching, lol, they gave me a brand new their top of the line battery free.

I have been running the new battery for over a week now with out a problem.

I should add the battery was over 6 years old and the alternator was putting out 14.2 volts. I think the heat had caused an internal sort that day because it was 105 degrees.

As suggested above when I put in the new battery I cleaned and made sure all connections were good.