This is a weird one for me.
A few days ago I hopped on the interstate around dusk and I immediately noticed my headlights were a bit dim and seemed to flicker occasionally. Glanced down at my dash gauges and the battery voltage gauge was hovering at 12. Not charging it would seem. I flicked through the CTS3 and it confirmed the same.
Not wanting to pull it over and shut it down and risk an expensive tow I just rode it out to see if it would come back up. I tried running with all unnecessary electronics turned off and no change. So then I turned on everything I could to try and see if a big load would get the alternator charging again. No change.
I get off the interstate at my exit and as soon as I start slowing down my voltage starts to rise. Sitting at a dead stop I'm charging at 14.0 volts. Not what it normally charges at (14.3 to 14.7) but better. It's been brutally cold here the past few days so the truck has sat but next week is warming up so I'll be back to work and I'll need my truck for that.
Anyone experienced this before? I've only ever had one alternator go bad and that was on a gas truck and it just plum quit one day.
Any suggestions on diagnosing it to ensure it is the alternator at fault? I'm about 99% certain it is but I hate throwing parts at problems and it's always good to learn new diagnostic techniques. Especially electrical ones because those are not my forte.
A few days ago I hopped on the interstate around dusk and I immediately noticed my headlights were a bit dim and seemed to flicker occasionally. Glanced down at my dash gauges and the battery voltage gauge was hovering at 12. Not charging it would seem. I flicked through the CTS3 and it confirmed the same.
Not wanting to pull it over and shut it down and risk an expensive tow I just rode it out to see if it would come back up. I tried running with all unnecessary electronics turned off and no change. So then I turned on everything I could to try and see if a big load would get the alternator charging again. No change.
I get off the interstate at my exit and as soon as I start slowing down my voltage starts to rise. Sitting at a dead stop I'm charging at 14.0 volts. Not what it normally charges at (14.3 to 14.7) but better. It's been brutally cold here the past few days so the truck has sat but next week is warming up so I'll be back to work and I'll need my truck for that.
Anyone experienced this before? I've only ever had one alternator go bad and that was on a gas truck and it just plum quit one day.
Any suggestions on diagnosing it to ensure it is the alternator at fault? I'm about 99% certain it is but I hate throwing parts at problems and it's always good to learn new diagnostic techniques. Especially electrical ones because those are not my forte.