Sigh... well, one thing after another. While replacing my water pump I decided to flush everything (with the pump out) and got water absolutely everywhere under the hood. Didn't think much of it considering the massive amount of water that gets under that when off-roading. Well... waited 24 hours to turn the truck on to let everything dry, sealant and all the wet parts.

And now...I'm getting the no-charging sign in my truck's message center. The voltage is around 11-12 compared to it's usual 14-14.5. Lights flicker when i have everything on, so it's clear I'm running off the battery. Tension on the belt is really tight... Alternator feels warm after it's been running for a couple minutes so I'm assuming it's charging at least a bit. Connections also look clean. Anyone have any clue what I may have done here and what i should try? Hayne's manual is useless when it come down to this and not sure which connections to plug my tester on.

Did coolant on the alternator possibly kill it? Did i possibly short anything out?

 

My guess would be that the alternator's internals got wet and something got smoked...not sure if there's a fuse for the alt, but I know that the lead from the red box to the B+ terminal on the alt is a fusible link...

 

my alternator went out a few months ago. it didnt get wet but was acting the same way yours is. take it off and have the parts store test it for you, chances are, it is bad. good luck

 

First thing i though was that it may have been a fuse, didn't find anything bad. but you're saying that the red box to the plus terminal is possibly fusible.. This on the other hand may be a good hint. That red box did get wet a hell as well. I'll check this out first. Thanks.

 

WELL... i'm about 99% sure it's the alternator. The fusible link is good and am getting power from that, once disconnected, i'm only getting 1.9 volts from the alternator which in turn no longer warms up, stays cold. Cold alternator usually means DEAD. Well, you learn from your mistakes, but damn, what an expensive lesson.

Will get a parts shop to test it out.

 

A little advice, I'd price out an OEM alternator, as I've seen nothing but problems with aftermarket reman alternators. I used to replace junk new aftermarket alternators all the time when I was a Toyota Tech...what got me is why the customer got pissed at us when it was the outside shop that put the piece of crap in there Not our fault they had to pay for the same job twice because they tried to cheap out the first time

 

ditto on that, ive seen 3 bad alternators in a row put on a chevy truck ,from autozone.junk.

 

Cheap Rebuilds has always been known to be an issue for any vehicle. Often, rebuilt alternators only have an expectancy of about 2-3 years. Thing is, all shops i've called only have rebuilt, including GM who sell their units for 465$. (only 1 yr warranty is installed yourself) Then there's this shop who can give me one for 100$ (rebuilt themselves) or this place I have always trusted who have rebuilt by AC/DELCO for 195$

Considering AC/delco build a lot of OEM parts for GM, and never had an issue with their parts before, I tend to trust them. IT has a lifetime warranty if installed by a pro, 2 yr warranty if installed yourself. Anyone have experiences and reviews with AC/Delco Alternator units?

 

get a lifetime warranty from autozone, if it ever goes out again it wont cost you a dime to replace it