well the charge light came on in my truck saturday night and i just kinda blew it off for awhile. Well last night i get in to my truck to run to my brothers house right down the road and i notice my lights are kinda dim, and then my stereo went out. So i get her home and putt a volt meter on my battery and it reads a full 12 volts, so i jump right to the alternator. Well i got home from school today and jump in with my buddie to run down to the local advance auto, i get about 2 miles from my house and it starts sputtering real bad and my lights, and clock went completely out, i whipped it into my church parking lot and shut her off. tried to start her and got nothing. well i didnt feel like leaving it there over night so i get some of my friends who were at church ( thankfully ) to give me a push and i pop-started it to try and get her on home and safe. It runs just fine for about the first half mile, then it did the same sputtering act it did earlier. Off to the side of the road it goes again, and i call my brother to come get me, pulled her home, and now here i am. so whats goin on here guys?? is it definitely the alternator?

sorry about the long post guys, kinda upset about not having my truck for a few days.

 

sorry to hear it man

 

Sounds like it could be the alternator to me... Make sure the alt. belt is tight.

 

you can have the alternator tested at autozone for free

 

Well, the charge light should have ben an indication to NOT drive the truck. 12 volts doesnt last long when you have to run down the street powering EFI, brakes, ( Ill bet you had the radio playing too. )
charge the battery, install a working alternator and listen to your idiot lights next time...


what may help you in the future is the instalationof guages....

 

The battery light AND the brake light come on to signify the charging system is having trouble. I'll bet its your alternator brushes. Don't worry, its an easy, cheap fix. I'll let you search for details.

 

That's funny that it didn't last very long, I've driven for 30 minutes or more without an alternator (belt snapped).

 

I'm with matt16, I had the same thing happen in my vw, just replaced the brushes from an old alternater that I had and it's still going.

 

That depends a lot on the condition of the battery.

 

Check the alternator is a must, but doesn't the alternator usually die slowly, not instantly like that.



(sorry just always wanted to use the helicopter)

 

well it didnt just die instantly, it was on its way out for a day or so. thanks for all the help guys. its going in tomorrow to have the alternator checked. Oh and someone said that gauges will help in the future, what gauges are you talking about?

thanks again for all the help

 

go to www.4crawler.com , check out his write-up regarding alternator maintenance etc. look in his 'cheap tricks' section, lots of information there.

search for 'the big three' on here as well. again, not expensive but well worth the time and effort.

lee

 

gauges you would want are a voltmeter and maybe an ammeter.
personally, I'd just get the voltmeter since if the alternator isn't outputting properly you'll see it in the voltage.

but anyways, how's it coming?