In the last couple of days I have been driving around, and noticed my voltmeter on my dash has dropped pretty substantially, usually was around 14 now it is hovering around the 1/4 mark, but is still above the red line.

I just got a new battery last summer. I checked the connections to the battery and there was little to no corrosion and they were tight.

Symptoms:
When under hard acceleration all my lights will dim substantially.

My right rear tail light bulb has burnt out 3 times in the past 2 weeks.

When my blinker is on my voltmeter will bounce slightly to the chime of the blinker. (doesnt do it when my hazards are on)

I recently tried to install my 55w 8000k HID kit and they were not getting enough power and would flicker and shut off. So i went back to stock and its fine.
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Alternator?
Regulator? (my dad said this but i have no clue what a regulator is)
Battery?
God striking down the blazer?

Haha any ideas will help

Thanks for your time,
Nate

 

Checked it at Oreillys, battery has a 47% charge and my alternator is only putting out 30 amps. Time for a new alternator.

 

Yeah I'd say new alternator because the voltage regulator is built into the alternator.

 

Okay Problem not solved. I took the alternator out and took it to auto zone and before i bought the new one they tested it 3 times and all 3 times it checked out okay.

The guy told me to look at all the connections and clean them. So I have a working alternator and a good battery, my voltmeter still reads 10.5 to 11.5 consistantly, where I want it to be about 14.

I cleaned all 3 ground connections coming off the battery terminal cable. All the ones coming off the Positive side looked fine. No corrosion in the battery terminals.

Im at a loss.

The only clue I can draw is that my passenger side rear blinker has burnt the bulb out 3 times or so in 2 weeks. Could there be wire that is grounding out somewhere? Short in the system? If so is there a wiring diagram?

Thanks for any help.

 

sent you a pm

 

get a external voltmeter and check it. check it at the battery with it running then check it some where inside the truck. you my just have a faulty gauge. my 90 has been screwy for years, its always reading like 11-12 volts with the truck running and never had any problems with it. testing it with the voltmeter its 14.4 under the hood then like 13. something in the cab

 

Checked the gauge with a external voltmeter. It is reading correctly. Im thinking it may be a bad regulator within the alternator. I believe this because when starting from cold the volts go back up to normal but when it heats up it stays just under 11, also the headlights dim under hard acceleration.

Does anyone have experience with the testers they use at oreillys/autozone?

Because i took the alternator off and they tested it 3 times and they all checked out good. What Im wondering is if the test they do checks the alternator and the regulator, or just the alternator.

Could it be the regulator on the alternator?

Any replies helpful thanks.
-Nate

 

stay away from autozone alts.. Seems like every problem I read on here about alts, its with an autozone alt.