Hi All,

Over the past 2-3 years on an inconsistent basis I have been receiving a message on the display "Charge System Fault." Volt meter has always read 14 volts. However, nothing has happened until about a 30 days ago.

It was (C5 '01) was completed dead one morning. Started car with jumper box. While hooking up the cable the positive connector arched or sparked more than expected. Car started fine and ran with no issue until yesterday.

Yesterday morning the car was completely dead again. Charged battery for 1.5 hours, started and driving it today with no issue. Took to Auto Zone for free test. They are telling me battery and alternator are perfectly fine and I could possibly have a short.

Has anyone else had this issue?

Your help is greatly appreciated!:

Dustin
Houston, TX

 

My wifes Grand Prix has the charge light come on, I had the alternator test @ NAPA and they said it was fine BUT it was not. The only way to REALLY telly what the alternator is doing is with a scope.

1st you need to check current draw when the car is off, should be in the 20mA range I believe. Then have the battery LOAD tested, if these 2 check out, your alternator/regulator is sick.

 

read this thread:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...tion-long.html



I'd say it's likely a bad ground or battery cable.

Check both ends of both battery cables for any indication of corrosion or lose connectors.

Next, go through all the ground points on the frame and check them for corrosion.

 

check your belts ..if they are OE they may be hard / dried out and are slipping when the engine is running as you turn the steering wheel they tend to slip if they are old and hard. it happened to me and I changed them my belts problem solved.

 

Statement commonly made by those (usually at "auto parts" stores)that have absolutely no clue what they are talking about.

 

I've been in the electrical/electronics repair,construction and design field all my adult live, 30 years now. The most common misconception I hear on a regular basis is "maybe it's a short". Shorts are easy to find, if fused properly the fuse blows. Most people can figure out the fuse is blown. If not fused or fused incorrectly it overheats and starts to burn. Just about anyone can figure that out.

If your alternator is producing the correct voltage it may still not be producing sufficient current. The alternator is actually generating 3 phase AC electricity somewhere in the range of 400 hz for many alternators. That AC needs to be rectified to produce DC. This is accomplished by a 3 phase bridge rectifier. If one of the diodes in the bridge fails your current producing ability will be reduced. What can also happen is one diode fails which leads to a cascading failure of the other diodes over time as they heat up more due to the fact their share of the load has been increased.

Another situation that is given little consideration with cars is the addition of extra electrical loads. Stereos, lights, navigation aids etc.. How many people size up their battery and alternator after adding such loads? Very few I expect. Further problems occur when those additional loads are run through the ignition switch without using a relay to isolate the additional current. In short the electrical system is designed to handle it's original equipment load with a very modest amount of extra capacity.

Did the parts store run a current load test on the alternator or just a voltage test? To do a proper load test the alternator must be spun up and loaded electrically.

Do you have a dark current load situation? Door switch not working right etc.?