charging system issues..HELP!!!

[ft2lewis]

so i had my factory alternator light come on a few months ago and decided to have it rebuilt. i took it to a local place in honolulu and had them do their thing. I put it in once they were done and all was well for a few months. Last week i was backing the car into the garage and i heard a pop and some rattling when i gave the car even a little gas. after further inspection, i narrowed it down to the alternator. i ended up taking it out and could see the springs and brushes came loose and were grinding on the rest of the internals. so i took it back to aforementioned shop as they warranty their work and they rebuilt it. i did get some power steering fluid on the alternator getting it out, but they cleaned it up. I got the alternator back the same day, installed it and took it for a ride. All was well for the first two miles, then the light came back on. monitoring the battery in engineering mode and my aeroforce gauge i could see that the battery voltage was low(11.5VDC) but remaining constant regardless of rpm. So yet again i took out the alternator and brought it back to the shop. before i yanked it though i took local readings at the battery and alternator and both returned reading consistent with the dash and gauge. So this time they swapped out the rectifier and said that it was reading fine. I put it in today and started the car. Voltage was at 13.7VDC and remained there +/- .2vdc. I shut the car off and turned it back on and observed it go to 13vdc and stay there +/- .2vdc. I have not taken readings at the alternator since i started up the car for the first time following today's install. I managed to take it over to autozone to have it tested and they said the battery was fine but the alternators voltage regulator was bad. after having it rebuilt several times im starting to think that its outside the alternator. i unplugged the harness going into it and watched the voltage go from 12vdc to 13.4vdc. the alternator light didn't come on today yet but i had the same downward trend. Does anybody have any ideas of where to look. I have started reading http://www.crazypauls.net/VEVMElectr...ingSystems.pdf but would like some input in the meantime. i need to get my car back on the road as my wife is starting to get more and more irritated as the morning drop offs go by. thanks in advance.

joe

[-Ray-]

Joe,

I have an alternator you can use to test your electrical system. The dealership broke a little tab off that the plug goes into so the plug "may" fall out. It never did, but they replaced it under a warranty repair. It was working fine in my car and my G8 has never experienced electrical issues.

Let me know, and I can get it into the mail by Saturday.

Ray

[ft2lewis]

Ray that would be great. lll shoot you a pm with my address. A little more into the story though... this morning the car seemed to be fine. I started it up this morning and it charged straight up to 14.6vdc. same thing during lunch with the battery going as high as 15vdc. On the way home today, however, it was at 13vdc and slowly dropped to about 11.7vdc by the time I got home(appx. 10mins later). I started to look at it once I changed and the red x with contact dealer and stability control off was displayed. The car started to idle rough and stalled a couple of times and I got a p0174. That last part may be due to my tune though. Thoughts?

[ft2lewis]

So I just found the following info in another thread:

Just an FYI I had found

C0561 service bulletin

GM has issued a service bulletin (PIC5074B) to address a C0561 trouble code on the following vehicles:

GM advises to check for all other codes that may be stored and address those first. GM has discovered that the most common cause of the C0561 code is a faulty traction control switch assembly. However, before replacing the switch, GM suggests checking the body control module to make sure it’s activating the traction control on and off like it should.

Be aware that the system depends on ABS and traction control systems rely on digital data and any short or malfunction in other modules can interrupt or corrupt the data lines.

I did have my traction control switch disconnected with the surrounding trim removed since I am waiting for my Ortiz gauge piece to come. I installed it and the stability control and contact dealer has been cleared up.

[-Ray-]

Joe,

Sorry I wasn't able to get it out yet. I have it boxed and ready to go first thing Monday.

[ft2lewis]

No worries Ray. So now the alternator light doesn't come on but the battery saver mode does. This was after about 35 minutes of driving and alot of sitting in a drive thru. Fast food is not that fast when you're on island time lol. The other day it was charging and got up to about 15vdc. Autozone tested and said it was the regulator in the alternator. Seems kind of sketchy though, could it be falling intermittently?

[Napalm]

Could your battery be bad - IE strong enough to start the car (I assume it's around 70F down there) and yes internally damaged maybe. Causing the alternator to work hard to charge the battery - but the current is just getting sunk to ground.

have you had the battery checked? ALso I assume in your checking/testing you've looked over all the large power connections in the car. IE battery cables, Underhood connections at the charging points, alternator connections (including the condition of the smaller wires).

I have heard of bad batteries causing other issues on a car - but I've never had on personally.

[-Ray-]

Alternator is on it's way.

If you can, get a battery charger and charge your battery completely.
Check the battery strength at an auto parts store that can perform that test.
Check it against the state of charge by going into engineering mode. Any day near 20C should return 100% state of charge after fully charging the battery.

I've been doing this every year I've had on 1st 888. State of charge and CCA's aren't directly related. You can have a battery register a 100% charge but still not have the same CCA's as it was when new. IMO

[ft2lewis]

So I have had the battery tested at autozone. They told me it was good, which I'm glad because I just replaced it in April. They did a test on the alternator like I said and they told me it was the regulator in the alternator. All the connections throughout the charging system looked good and I tested for shorts. Didn't find any.

Ray, just to be clear, you want to to put it on a charger until it stops charging (indicating it should be fully charged) and then verify it says 100% to verify it's not the battery? And what is the CCA?

[ft2lewis]

And one last thing. How accurate are the tests autozone runs. Can I take what they tell me to the bank?