Heres the back ground to the what happened. Ever since owning the truck the the battery voltage gauge has always been off the end (18 volts) I figured it was broken. But tonight my battery light went on the the needle swung to the middle, along with all lights dimmed. I was the dd for the night so I drove everyone home as the needle slowly made its way to 8 volts.

On my road I was about a mile away and my abs light went on, along with the air bag light blinking 3 times then every warning light went on and the truck would sputter under any acceleration along with extremely hard shifts and wouldn't hold a gear. I coasted into my drive where it quit with the voltage at 8 volts, tried to restart it but no crank.

I turn everything off put it in park and walk my buddy across the street to his place. My thought was the alternator wouldn't charge causing low voltage to trip all the warning lights and dim everything so I pop the hood to make sure there is no obvious signs of loose wires. Everything seemed there and together so for the fun of it I try to start it and to my amazement started no problem with only the battery light on with the voltage on the gauge around 12 volts.

It's almost 3:30 in the morning here so I'm going to work on it when I wake up but is there any obvious things to look for? I'm Gunna check fuses and alternator voltage output with a meter.

Any ideas as its my daily driver and I'll need it for school on Monday?

 

I would check your ground wire and of course all wiring. Pay attention to the wiring harness going to the alternator. They have a tendency to fray through the insulation. Make sure everything is connected in the right place. Then with everything clean and test the battery and charging system. Look for signs of the battery being overcharged, boiling over, overheated wires etc. The charge gauge should never be that high. Might have a bad regulator. Also check for codes.

 

Theres a clip, clamp whatever, on frame on the passenger side of the motor, the power cable for the starter runs through that clip, and i have seen them chafe or crack the insulation on the cable, and short out there. It could cause the alternator to go crazy.

Or maybe your alternator is toast.

One more dumb thing to check, is your battery tray and hold down, i had a battery slide over enough that the cable touched the starter soleniod and shorted out, took a few minutes to figure that out.

 

Tested the battery with it not running and it was around 12 volts, with the truck running it slowly dropped to 11.5 volts then 10.5. We unhooked the battery for a minute and the truck quite right away. Sounds like a bad alternator correct?

 

Unhooking the battery with the truck running can damage the alternator anyways. Yes alternator.

 

Definitely an alternator problem. Make sure the wiring is good too.

 

Thanks everyone for the input, just got the alternator back today, the brushes were worn out and the regulator was done. Got it fixed and in the truck and it's now charging at 14.5.

 

Thanks for the heads up