Alternator Weirdness! Help!

[bazooka]

So, I was coming home from a trip to Kentucky on Christmas Eve and my "battery not charging" light comes on my '03 Hoe, then off, then on, off, on, etc which I guess is normal if the alternator isnt working. It was after dark, so I had no choice but to run the lights and after a while a could see that the voltage meter was slowly dropping so I found a Walmart just before the 6pm closing and bought their best battery and a charger in hopes of making it home. Well when I got back to the truck and cranked it, the light didnt come back on and it was showing 14 volts on the gauge....dayum whats up with that I thought? So I drove it for probably 30 minutes with no "battery not charging" light before it started again.

It eventually ran the battery down so I stopped and changed the battery to the new one which Im sure didnt have a really full charge. This got me closer to home, but not wanting to get stranded in nowhere land on Christmas Eve night, I stopped and got a motel room before the new battery completely died. I charged my old battery overnight (its only 8 months old and its a very good 1100 CCA battery) and charged the new one for about 3 hours the next morning and struck out again. This time the warning light stayed on and I had to swap batteries one more time to get home. What I am wondering is, do I have a loose connection somewhere, or some other problem than a totally bad alternator??

 

[OR VietVet]

Your alternator is going bad. Before it goes out completely it can do these types of things intermittently. Likely the diode trio is starting to fail. If a diode goes completely bad it can do a drain on the system when engine is shut off, like leaving the headlights on. I would change the alternator.

 

[TxDrewski]

Check the connection on the Positive Jump Box, there is a nut that holds the wires down. It backs off and your alt stops charging. Had the exact same thing happen to me.

---------- Post added at 06:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:31 PM ----------

Im in lufkin not too far from you, gimme a call I can explain it better
9362259669

 

[bazooka]

Andrew,
Thanks for the call buddy! I checked the connection and it seems tight, didnt put a wrench to it yet, but to wiggle it, it does appear its tight. Guess I will have to have the alternator checked.

 

[TxDrewski]

Andrew,
Thanks for the call buddy! I checked the connection and it seems tight, didnt put a wrench to it yet, but to wiggle it, it does appear its tight. Guess I will have to have the alternator checked.

Damn that sucks, sorry to here that. Let me know how the bench test goes thats so odd.