Bad Alternator in Chevy 2002 1500?

[JamesCoste]

Yesterday, my truck left me stranded at work. I've got about 53,000 miles on it, so my time was due for mechanical problems.<br /><br />Here are the symptoms:<br />- cranked up yesterday morning and the truck drove fine with no symptoms.<br />- After work I open truck door and interior lights are dim.<br />- Insert key and turn and it doesn't even try to turn over.<br />- Had a buddy jump start me and it cranked up although it didn't want to keep running at first.<br />- I let it run for maybe 2 minutes. Put it in reverse and the engine died.<br />- Left it parked overnight.<br /><br />My buddy noticed that the alternator had some black "soot" near one spot on the coils and he said that it was "arcing" there. He said that the alternator is bad.<br /><br />I've fixed alternator's in two or three other vehicles and the one on this engine is very easy to get to.<br /><br />Here are my options:<br />1) Remove the alternator and take it to parts store so they can test it. Hopefully it is bad. I then get a new one and put it on my truck.<br /><br />2) Have vehicle towed to Chevy Dealership, have them test it and install it if it is bad.<br /><br />What would you do?

 

[one more cast]

Re: Bad Alternator in Chevy 2002 1500?

1) Remove the alternator and take it to parts store so they can test it. Hopefully it is bad. I then get a new one and put it on my truck.<br /> <br /><br /> I always get the better one with the lifetime warranty, I've never had one of them go bad.

 

[Ron G]

Re: Bad Alternator in Chevy 2002 1500?

do it yourself.not a problem at all.

 

[dolluper]

Re: Bad Alternator in Chevy 2002 1500?

Get it tested forsure,but finding the cause of it going if it's done might be more important,if you have lots of miles and idle time it could be your brushes have just worn out,if not you could have short somewhere,is everything working on the truck or are there things not working like dash lights,dome light,turn signals or so on. Your starter connections are good clean and tight,battery connections clean and tight, belt in good condition not past wear mark on tensoner<br />If everything checks out and alto bad maybe try a auto wreaker for one save some bucks<br />IF your handy try here<br /> http://www.alternatorparts.com/cs130_sbpage1.htm

 

[JamesCoste]

Re: Bad Alternator in Chevy 2002 1500?

I did it myself in about 2 hours including travel time. I had a buddy help me with the tensioner pulley while I took the belt off and on. I got a new alternator and battery. I took off the old one and spun it and it squeeked badly. Sounds like a bearing went bad. I took it to get it tested and the guy spun it and said the same thing.<br /><br />I also got a new battery. The old one was discharged completely and I didn't have a charger and I need to be able to leave work today.<br /><br />It cranked up and ran fine although I did have to rev the engine to about 2500 rpm for about 30 seconds before it idled "fine". <br /><br />Thanks for your advice. I'll take it for a drive at lunch.

 

[fseries]

Re: Bad Alternator in Chevy 2002 1500?

if you can start the truck take the pos. cable off if the truck dies its the alt. if it keeps runnin then most likely the internal regulator.. cheap rebuild if you do it,, but they are expensive to buy

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: Bad Alternator in Chevy 2002 1500?

If this is EFI, the computer (ECU) needs to relearn, that can take anything from a day to 2 weeks - the idle problem will fix itself.

 

[JamesCoste]

Re: Bad Alternator in Chevy 2002 1500?

The truck has been running great the past few days. The alternator was definitely my culprit.