My truck seemed to be not charging so I changed the alternator and put to brand new 1000crancking amp batteries in as both were getting old. I cleaned the terminals and I have the new bolts on there, everything is tight. It is about 2 lines under 14 with nothing on and it drops almost to red with lights on. What could be wrong, bad cable? Could it be anything else?
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Not charging
- Thread starter DEERE3594
- Start date
just a number
Active Member
well I did some searching. The wire(red/black) from the battery to the alternator is the charging wire + the input wire for the field coil. The other wire(brown) from the gauge is the turn on wire. check both of them. make sure you have the same voltage at the alternator terminal as the battery.
Matt Bachand
Depends on the 6.5
Could it be bad light grounds thats causing way too much juice to complete the light circuit?
buddy
Active Member
I'd just check the battery voltage and compare, as the guage could be messed up. mine does similar, but I know my alternator pulley is too small because my tach reads too high of RPMs, and I know when I check the actual battery voltage and alternator output its higher than what the guage says.
DennisG01
Member
Do you have a volt meter? If not, you can get them pretty cheap - under $10 for a basic model. Nothing fancy, but good enough for basic stuff.
Put the meter on the battery with engine running and see what you're actually getting. Then try things like: check right at the alternator, turning accessories on, etc. This will help to isolate things.
Ooops... This was already suggested above. Sorry.
Put the meter on the battery with engine running and see what you're actually getting. Then try things like: check right at the alternator, turning accessories on, etc. This will help to isolate things.
Ooops... This was already suggested above. Sorry.
Last edited:
Michaeljp86
EVIL GENIUS
I had this problem on the 484 and it was a bad connection where the wires plug into the alternator.
Bullseye240
Member
Make sure they gave you the right alternator. The stock one is what is known as a self-exciting stator and if they gave you one that requires a hot wire from and ignition switched source then you will need to either swap it out or run a hot wire to the alt to make it work. This happend to me and I ran around for about a month and a half beofor the optimas wouldn't crank it anymore. Figured out the problem and ran a hot wire to fix it. Also learned that the tranny doesn't like voltage below 12 volt one bit. The night before it would crank anymore I was driving back home and when I would turn the blower on high the tranny would drop out of overdrive. BTW did you get the alternator from Advance? They have no parts guys/gals there just counter help. they have no clue about autos just how to look things up on the computer. Thats how I got my wrong alternator.:mad2: I shoud stop now before this turns into a rant.