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'96 GMC c1500 charging problem.

Yachtcare

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Since the Diesel is still down, I started getting the gasser ready for some holiday travel.

It's a short 1/2 ton. 5.0L gas, nv3500 manual trans. Bought it in mid Sept. 130K on the clock

Wednseday night......... New heater core, flushed cooling system, new stat. Checked, adjusted brakes, cleaned up a bit. New belt, new tensioner, new igniters, new upper rad hose. Cleaned all the grounds(had pass side inner fender out). Shined up all the fuses, under hood, dash, and in the dash. New tranny mount. Battery is 60 days old.

Today went to work, truck running great, wasnt paying attention to the voltage gauge on the dash. Fortuneatly truck decided to not start when I had returned to the shop. Battery at 11.53 volts.

Grabbed one of the batteries out of the Diesel, fired right up, but the gauge was reading low (9-10 volts) typically it's a bit above the 14 mark. So pretty well ruled out that the battery wasnt the culprit right away. Went to Advance, got an alternator. SAME symptom. Battery is discharging while driving.......

Original alt was flat, no voltage. New one seems to be putting out 13.1 while running, doesnt step up when headlights, a/c etc is engaged. Guess I'll try another alt swap in the morning......

Neighbor shop, an auto electric guy checked, said cable from batt to starter seemed a bit hot to the touch, recommended to replace the cable ends at the battery side. Did that, ohmed the cables from the alt to batt, batt to starter, batt to fuse under hood. All O.K. Battery on charger for three hours....start up, but still showing a discharge at the dash gauge.

DID NOT have this issue until I did the work outlined above last night......... The same symptom with the new alt, leads me to believe the problem may lie elsewhere.......WTH did I do?:???:

YC.......
 
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