Driving the 98 home last night something weird happened. Everything just turned off. Headlights, stereo, engine, the works. I Stopped and I got the fire warning lights back, turned the key and it fired right up. Took off, 10 feet down the road, same thing, along with the same starting result. Third time was a charm and it made it home, and drove fine today.

Now, A while back I had a no-charge problem, that kind of went away. Battery tested fine, alternator was "on the way out". Is this just the alternator telling me its done, like sucking the power out? Or something bigger?

 

Check your connections.

An alternator can be tested at autozone or etc. for free

 

Connections seem good, alternator was tested at Les Schwab a while ago, and "was on its way out".

 

Well then there you go...I would have a alternator shop rebuild your OEM alternator. Don't get a crappy one from autozone or Les Schwab. Even with thousands of miles on it, it's still better than anything from those stores.

 

I can get a deal on one through napa, I am planning to keep the OEM one and have it rebuilt for a spare. Sorry but I can't afford the downtime of having the shop take 2-3 days to rebuild it.

But as far as my original question- does this seem like something that could be caused by alternator?

 

Check the grounds, everywhere. I had a similar issue when the ground from the firewall to the engine head was disconnected. Said ground is on the passenger side, rear part of the head.

 

I had similar problem with the engine ground under/near the diagnostics plug on the driver's side. I think it was only complete loss of engine electronics though (would just die all of a sudden and then come back on by itself).

I don't think it could be "just an alternator", because when they go out you usually start running everything off the battery until it's dead, then you have a no-start condition. Draining the battery when the alternator goes out can take a while (I once drove from Montreal to Albany with no alternator and a full charge. Had to keep my emergency brake 1 click engaged to stop my daytime running lights from coming on).

 

X2, I lost my alt belt and it still ran.

 

I don’t think a bad alternator would be that inconsistant. I would put that truck on a scanner to find out where the problem is. Sounds like a connection issue somewhere. Although electrical can get tricky especially when the symptoms are not consistant.

 

check ground for the fuse box