My wife returned home complaining of our truck just barely turning over enough to start. I immediately went to check this out for myself. I tried to start the truck, it turned over a few times and that was it. Not knowing the age of the battery I checked it with a voltmeter and it was below 11.5 volts. I removed the batttery and put it on a charger but the charger was showing a no charge condition. I put the same size battery back on it and it started right up. I took several readings from the battery and recorded 11.9-12.2 volts (with the motor running) much below the recommended 14-15 volts it should have according to my haynes repair manual. The battery I am using has a base voltage reading of 12.8. I removed the alternator and had it tested and was told it needed replacement. I replace it with a premium remanufactured alternator but still have similar voltage readings never above 12.5 volts with the motor running. I have checked every connection I have found associated with the charging system. The battery ground cable and the fender mount solenoid are the only old parts remaining to be replaced as I have been replacing these parts to avoid such a situation. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Hmm, interesting problem.

Had an instance where the negative cable corroded up underneath the insulation - caused a no-start problem, with no visual clues.

Suggest that the solenoid would only be an issue during starting.

Appears that you're losing about 1.5 volts or so. Perhaps measure the voltage between the alternator output and its casing to see if it's any different than what's measured at the battery. If so - losing voltage somewhere. If not, either a bad alternator, or trying to feed a really big short.

Then maybe check for voltage between the engine block and the negative post of the battery - should be zero, or maybe 0.1 tops. If any more than that - then suggest you're on the right track suspecting the ground cable or connections.

 

The first thing I would do is make sure the Alternator you purchased is a good one any more the quality of some of the rebuilt alternators, starting motors, etc I have purchased in recent years have been suspect. On a 84 Mazda B2000 truck I once had I went through two rebuilt starters purchased at Autozone fortunately with the life time warranty they have I didn't have to pay for the replacements. When the starter failed again I got tired of crawling under it and went to NAPA auto parts, a parts store I have been purchasing stuff from since 1966, and purchased one of their rebuilt units and that ended the problem.

 

Perhaps a sidebar - but have had similar experience with AutoZone parts - dating back to the days when they were know as AutoShack, then Radio Shack got their panties in a wad.

The lifetime replacement warranty was a good thing at face value - until I realized they were selling crap. The free-parts part of the deal kind of lost its value after pulling a clutch or other really labor-intensive part for the 2nd or 3rd time.

Hopefully things have changed - but I still won't go to AutoZone for critical parts unless I'm in a critical crisis.

 

Unfortunately ,as you all have suggested , I have in the past bought new and reman. parts and they too have been defective. I will do the tests as suggested as well as have the reman. alternator tested. If all above is ok I will replace the solenoid and battery ground cable because I planned replacement of these parts anyway. Thanks for your help and suggestions.

 

I have had multiple bad rebuilt alternators I got into the habit of having the parts store test the alternator before leaving the store. The worst I had was 4 in a row that did not put out the voltage from the store.

 

Well we found the problem as many of you suggested, the reman. alternator. I took it off the truck and had my wife take it to auto zone on her way to work. The manager at auto zone told her it failed when he tested it but when she told him it had the lifetime limited warranty he wanted to re-test it to make sure. She insisted on a replacement anyway and said he became irritated about replacement. We have had random problems with parts purchased from there before and have decide to go elsewhere in the future.I usually just bought parts from there because of availability and presumed convenience, what a mistake on my part. Thanks for all the help.

 

It's amazing how powerful one transaction can be... You get a crappy part and take it back and the guy says "I'm sorry, here's another one" and you'll brag all day about what a great store it is. Based on that, people will shop there.

You get the same crappy part and the guy says "Oh, let me check again - it's got to be good if you got it here" and you post the way you were treated on the internet. People will choose a different parts store based on this, and the dufus at the counter probably has no idea how many sales he just cost his company.

My local O'Reilly store has always been great - knowledgeable, helpful, easy to work with. Probably why I've never been in an Auto Zone. There's an Auto Zone store about 1/2 mile from our O'Reilly store, but based on your experience, if my truck broke down right in front of Auto Zone, I'd walk 1/2 mile to the O'Reilly store. Ok... I'd call my wife and have her pick me up and take me to O'Reilly!

 

I did not base my decision on one transaction as was stated. I have bought defective parts from different parts stores in the past also, but what I felt to be questionable service helped seal this store's fate.

 

I'm definitely not placing blame on you - I'm glad that you posted your experience for the rest of us to share. Everyone here spends a ton of money at their local parts store, and giving us the runaround is not a good way to keep us coming back.

I think that this is a valuable part of our information exchange here - just as well as we help one another figure out what's wrong with our trucks, we should also help each other decide where the most reputable suppliers for parts are.