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I was driving from north county SD to Mission Valley and about 20 minutes into my drive this warning light came up on the dash
Followed shortly by this warning light
Followed in 10 minutes by the SBC failure imminent pull over red dash sign and it kept putting the emergency brake on for a split second while I was trying to drive her home. I made it home when the SBC warning light was no longer coming on and off but staying on. I finally parked it and noted this light
I am guessing my alternator is bad or my battery is bad? I am leaning more towards the alternator though. I did not get any prior warnings from previous days. It all happened within this one drive. Hopefully someone here has had this happen to them?
I found an older thread stating that the voltage regulator might be bad. I just changed the engine and trans mounts I wonder if it jarred the regulator loose a bit. Probably more than likely a coincidence.
if by chance you think something has "jarred" loose, check the connections on the back of the alternator there should be the wire connection to the voltage regulator and make sure its on snug. i agree, its either the voltage regulator or a new/rebuilt alternator is in order. but before buying anything, if you have a voltmeter, could do a quick test of your "charging" system by 1) check the battery voltage before you start the car. should be greater than 12.5 volts without it running. 2) crank the car up and now check the battery, if the alternator is working properly, you should see the voltmeter reading on the battery with the car running anywhere between 13.5 to 14.5 volts.
Just went down stairs and started the vehicle up. It almost didn't start but eventually started. the SBC light never came on and the only light that came on was the battery protection light. I let the car idle for a good 5 minutes to recharge the battery. I am now thinking it isn't the battery.I am beginning to lean more towards the voltage regulator as being the culprit. Hopefully someone else can chime in that has had one go out on their vehicle?
if by chance you think something has "jarred" loose, check the connections on the back of the alternator there should be the wire connection to the voltage regulator and make sure its on snug. i agree, its either the voltage regulator or a new/rebuilt alternator is in order. but before buying anything, if you have a voltmeter, could do a quick test of your "charging" system by 1) check the battery voltage before you start the car. should be greater than 12.5 volts without it running. 2) crank the car up and now check the battery, if the alternator is working properly, you should see the voltmeter reading on the battery with the car running anywhere between 13.5 to 14.5 volts.
Great advice! I will have to buy a meter tomorrow to test with.
Stop running the car, even just idling, unless you want to replace batteries as well.
On second thought if your batteries are more than 5 years old, replace them too.
But change regulator asap (easy and inexpensive) before starting the car and doing any further testing. It's easy for crap to get convoluted when you keep testing/trying things and more parts of the charging system goes out. Believe me this is coming from experience.
I eventually had to replace almost everything in the charging aspect of my car before I felt safe driving it again. Most of which was me testing this, trying that, etc etc. Causing further failure of more components and leading to more erroneous test results pointing to the wrong things (like BCM).
very good point indeed!!! very well worth considering getting a new alternator especially you plan on keeping the car for the future. good recommendation!
So I went under the car with a new voltage regulator today and noted the alternator is remanufactured. I couldn't get the screws out yet since the guy that installed the alternator stripped a couple screws. I'll try again tomorrow morning.
So I switched out the voltage regulator and started it. There was a nice smell of burnt plastic upon startup And a bit of smoke coming from the alternator. I drove the car around the block a few times and tge smell went away. Hopefully I didn't just toast the new voltage regulator
I have now ordered an alternator to arrive some time around Wednesday. I tested the alternator with the new voltage regulator and the battery tested at 11.35V while not running and while running it tested at 10.25V
I'll repeat this, since you ignored it the first time,just to make myself feel better.
You're correct. It's a 10 year old car. As I was under the car I noted the alternator was already replaced Since it was refurbished. In the end it needs another new alternator so yes you were most correct
08-15-2015, 02:04 AM
Help! a bunch of warning lights came on
