Alternator Problem?

[firecop]

My Tahoe has been going through alternators like mad. (or so I thought) Today on the way to one of jobs the volt gauge goes down and my amateur radio was reading 11.8 volts. Now this is the sixth time it's done this in 25k miles.

On whim I shut it down and started t back up and voila 14.2 volts. The back of the Tahoe is littered with cores so I'm going to bring one to the parts store and have it tested.

My question is... Can the ignition switch/box be going bad and not supplying voltage to the alternator intermittently? 207k on the 6.5

Thanks!

[phantom309]

my problem was the wire from the alternator to the battery,. i changed it for a thicker gauge,. and it,s been great since,.
yrmv

Nick

[THEFERMANATOR]

Your 98 uses a CS-130D alternator which is a HIGHLY failure prone unit. GM basically built it up to overdrive the lower RPM charging output and it was plagued with overheat issues in teh stator and regulator. You could swap in a AD230 out of an 01 DURAMAX truck which is a direct swap but has the upgraded cooling design to correct for teh overheat in teh rear housing. Or if you are pulling high currewnt loads go with the AD244 for an 01 DURAMAX(130 amp rating instead of 105), btu you may need a one size longer belt to use it.

[firecop]

Thanks for the replies! I had a strange DRL problem today, they would not shut off, pulled the #15 fuse and no more DRL. The alternator seems much happier, time will tell.

Alternator and PMD, my life.

[DennisG01]

Thanks for the replies! I had a strange DRL problem today, they would not shut off, pulled the #15 fuse and no more DRL. The alternator seems much happier, time will tell.

Alternator and PMD, my life.

I don't have an alternator problem, but my DRL fuse has been "missing" for about 6 years. I thought I read that there is some type of speed sensitive steering thing on that circuit, too. I'm not positive about that - but, to be honest, I don't know what I'm missing if that is true. My steering seems just fine.