I think I'd throw that mechanic a little money since he spent all day reconfirming your opinion for basically free.

Also, what if during your 14 mile drive home the fully fielded newly rebuilt alternator fried itself, the battery or a bunch of other electronics because you knew better than he did.

I would have made you sign a waiver.

 

This absolutely no reason to throw that electrical guy any money for work that he told me was included with the alternator rebuild.

While I appreciate his effort, If he had listened to what I had told him to begin with, he would have quickly come to the same conclusion I did.

As far as the alternator is concerned, the alternator was still charging the battery when I originally brought it in to him to be tested, which he agreed to do. When I first brought in, he made the comment that PCM's usually did not fail in that particular year, and he was sure it was the alternator. So I let him have at it. The only thing I could not have tested properly myself was the field coil inside.

I allowed him to rebuild it only because I knew it was the original one on the van and most likely would need bearings, slip rings, and brushes. The rebuild is something I could have done myself. Once the rebuild was done, if it was done correctly, it certainly should have ruled out the alternator.

The guy at the shop is the one that told me that he included the trouble shooting as part of the alternator repair. If there was a problem with me driving the Van after he rebuilt the alternator, he did not voice any concern when he told me to bring the van to his shop once I reinstalled it on the vehicle.

It is beyond me why he needed to keep it two days to test the pin outs of the PCM for the proper voltage. He even attempted to keep it longer, but I told him to just button it up and put it outside. At that time I decided it was time to trust my judgement, and trouble shooting skills versus the guy at the shop who insisted before he started that it could not be the PCM.

Honestly the issue seems to be worse since he did his trouble shooting because it is no longer intermittent. Funny how when I drove it in there for him to test it was. He also did not disconnect the battery during any of his testing. I know this because the time on the radio was still set properly and on the dodge van its a pain in the butt to do. In addition, I also noted the position I tightened the negative battery cable. So the guy never bothered to clear any codes. I will have to go over things now to see what he might possibly left disconnected. I am concerned that he might possibly have done some damage himself. You can drive the Van home with the connection on the back of the alternator disconnected and run strictly off the battery itself. You certainly do not need an alternator to drive a short distance.

Last but least here, I do have some experience in electrical trouble shooting. While I am certainly not an expert on the Dodge Van in particular, I did troubleshoot wiring and electronics when I was in the Navy. After the Navy, I worked my way through college turning wrenches which is something I have done since I was 11.

My skills do not make me better than anyone else at troubleshooting. I also know I am capable of missing something, making a mistake, or drawing a wrong conclusion. The fact remains, the ASE certified guys are subject to making the same mistakes. The difference is, they have an ASE certificate on the wall, are supposed to be experts, and I don't. I do respect the accomplishment that the guy accomplished by getting ASE certified as I would a Dr. in the medical field. It still does not make their skills and judgement flawless, and I think we all have experienced times where if a Dr, or Mechanic had listened to us, it would have saved us both time and money.

I do not think I will have any trouble testing the alternator output to see if I burned it up driving the 14 miles home. If I did, I will take it apart myself, and replace the $30 or less worth of parts I might have damaged.

I will be sending off my PCM for repair next week.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions.

Jason