Title says it all. Fixed the plenum, replaced the timing chain and water pump, and fired it up. (Yay!)

But now the alternator isn't charging the battery. I checked everything obvious... No loose wires, no missed connections, good connections at battery....

Any ideas? Only thing I can think of is maybe I broke one of the leads back to the PCM... It has been exceptionally cold, could one of those wires have become that brittle?

Give me some ideas here guys!

 

Use voltmeter across battery terminals to see if your getting 13.8 to 14.5 volts with engine running. Or take battery in for free bench test see if it will take a charge.
does dash gauge say it's not charging? If it is, then most likely brushes are shot in alternator. You can have that bench tested free also.

 

I would recheck the connections...... no reason it should quit after doing the plenum.... Make sure the ground on top of all the brackets has a good connection.

Worst case, yank the alt, take it in to get tested.

 

That's what I thought, which is why I was so baffled...

Did some googling today and came across this link which described the same issue. Checked the alt fuse and sure enough, black and crusty. Replaced, tightened everything down, and after a few minutes of uncertainty, everything settled down and evened out. Truck runs better than it did before, by a long shot. Used to feel like it was struggling to pull its own weight. Now, it's a beast.


Again, a thousand thanks to everyone on this forum.