Drove to and from work like normal, went to coach basketball for my kids team and on the way home got a red GEN light. Voltage was down but came up before I got home. Shut it off started fine again and no light. Guess I will be checking around on alternators and studying up on our electrical systems.

 

have the alternator tested.

Unfortunately, the voltage regulator is part of the PCM, so, if it fails...... you either need to do some creative wiring to install an external regulator, or, replace the PCM....... Not sure which is the best way to go here..... For my part, if one part of my PCM fails, how much further behind can some more of it be?

 

Thanks, plan to get it tested later today. Anyone have a recommendation on alternator or PCM sourcing? I have easy access to NAPA, AutoZone and Orieily but I see lots of bad postings about remans from all three. Is a Bosch reman better than a Duraceaft gold? How about PCMs never touched it but it doesn't look too bad. Shipping time will be a problem though for anything I can't go pickup at a dealer or store. Is a store bought PMC going to have a death flash or my factory load?

 

Good chance that it will indeed have the death flash.... but, a few of the drawbacks to that don't exist in the 96-97 PCMs. (torque management?)

Your best bet is just to get a PCM locally. That way, if there are any issues, you can walk into the store, and talk to a real person. Being yours is a 97, you shouldn't have to worry about having it flashed to the correct VIN, but, that may happen anyway.... (so, have it handy just in case.)

I think the duralast alternators have a lifetime warranty...... and I haven't really heard any truly bad reports on them..... I have used them in the past, and didn't have trouble. Just make sure you replace the correct part the first time. Check all the wiring, make sure things are clean and tight, it might be just that simple.

 

Thanks. 11.8 Volts on the battery before start 14.3 with it running and it drove fine today with no GEN light and charge gauge reading normal. (Was real low last night) For now I will clean and tighten stuff this weekend, keep my craftsman car jumper in the truck box and wait to see. If/when it comes back or starts acting funny I will start a thread from the beginning since I didn't find much on searching GEN light. Thanks for the education, as always you had some great info and stuff I had not thought about. I also might order a belt tensioner since I've never changed that and it seemed like it was staring at me when I had the hood open.

 

Helped a friend in the neighborhood pickup a new used fridge for his garage. (And no GEN light)

 

Took the Ram in for inspection, says they gotta fix a power steering fluid leak and the defroster didn't work.

I was knew about the PS fluid leak, but the defroster works, it worked on the way into the shop, that's how I defrosted the windows.... lol...

 

After a brief contest with some timing and fuel sync issues. The 360 is back to life with a RT+10 camshaft and EQ heads

 

Do we get a video of it sweetly burbling away?

 

After I get the exhaust leaks fixed