My C5 is six months old with about 17,000 mostly highway miles. Lately I have often been seeing "Charging system fault" when I start the car. Voltage runs just short of 14 volts most of the time. Bad battery or bad alternator or bad computer or what? :confused:

My DIC codes do not tell me what is wrong:
U1160H, B2860H, & U1096H

Anyone have any helpfull information? :confused: Thanks.

Tom

 

Hi there,
check your voltage, as you are starting the car, as you may see it dip below 12 while cranking over the engine.
I would have your battery and alternator checked by your dealer, so it doesnt cost you anything.
This is how I suggest for you to proceed, c4c5

 

mozin,

I received "charge system fault" messages when starting my 1999 C5 coupe. Several trips to the dealer had the "technician" stumped. He called Chevrolet Technical Assiatance and was told to inspect several ground locations on and near the started. He found two studs that had nuts on them that were very loose and corroded. He cleaned the locations, tightened the nuts, and that ended the messsages.

Last month I began receiving the message again. The technician determined the alternator was bad and it was replaced (2nd alternator replaced under warranty).

Good luck - try the ground locations. The technician stated that Technical Assistance knew about the problem and it must be common.

1999 White C5 Coupe

 

Same message on my 99. Alternator was defective and replaced under warranty (within last 30 days) . Also had original Delco and replacement battery (another Delco replaced by dealer) fail but never had that message for the battery.

 

Same thing has happened twice on my 10,000 mile A4 coupe. Doesn't seem to be anything wrong.

 

My voltage before I start the engine in at 11.7 but I find it difficult to see how low it drops when the starter is engaged.

When I hear that my windshield replacement is available I will also have the dealer check the battery, alternator, and starter.

Thanks for your help.

Tom

 

Thank you all for your input.

Tom

 

You should have this checked by the dealership. In my case, it was an early indicator of a problem with my generator. It was replaced under warranty.

I took my '99 Vette to two different dealerships for this problem. The first dealership, Huffines in Plano, told me they couldn't recreate the problem therefore nothing could be fixed since nothing was wrong. Since I got the warning again soon after this visit, I took it to a different dealership, Frank Parra. After telling them about the warning, the service advisor immediately (and mistakenly) told me that it's a common problem related to a loose wiring connection that causes this message to appear. However, after the tech looked at it, he discovered a bad diode pattern in the alternator which was actually causing the problem. So, it could be something simple, loose connection (hopefully) or something worse.

Be safe and have it checked.

Regards,
-TargaC5

(Updated) More info:

I periodically received that message. The weird thing was that it never stayed up until I hit reset. The message always disappeared by itself.
When I first got the message (about 2 months after I bought my car new with only 5K miles on it), I took it to one dealership and they couldn't recreate the problem so nothing was done to fix it.

I later continued getting the error message occasionally. Finally, I took the car to a different dealership for some other warranty repairs at approx. 25K miles. I also told them about the "Charge System Fault" error. They immediately said it was probably just something common (they've seen the problem before) and it's really easy and quick to correct.

Well, when I got the car back, they said that it wasn't what they had originally thought. They had to replace the generator/alternator because there was a bad diode pattern showing up. It was what triggered the error, they said, because the alternator wasn't putting out enough charge.

Well, all was well with that problem until about a week later when my entire car died in a parking lot.

I had to have my car towed (on a flatbed) to the same dealership (since they were the one's that had just worked on it previously).

The latest problem was cause by two things (related to the other problem, I'm sure)
a) my power lumbar support was creating an unusually excessive draw on the battery that wouldn't always turn off
b) my battery completely failed and started leaking acid

So, the long story is that all of this might have had something to do with me getting the error message in the very first place when the first dealership couldn't figure it out. If the problem could have been correctly identified and fixed at that point, I might not have gotten stranded in a parking lot when the actual electrical system failed at the later point in time.

Better be safe about it and have another dealership look at it if the first one tells you it's something trivial or can't recreate the problem.

Just my 2 cents (speaking from personal experience).

Good luck!

p.s. The first dealership couldn't find any codes in memory.




[Modified by TargaC5, 12:30 PM 9/15/2001]

 

I have no reason to doubt the competency of my local dealership BUT...

After calling the GM service center and checking the alternator, battery, and starter cable connections they were unable to solve the problem. I was left with the instructions to wait for the voltage to show below 12 volts AFTER the engine starts, which would indicate an alternator problem.

Boy am I glad I had the situation diagnosed by the GM dealer so that I do not need to worry about my $52,000 new car leaving me high and dry out in no mans land. :bs I have more confidence in my 1984 Mazda RX-7 than I have in my brand new Corvette.

Tom

 

I have a 99 vert and just saw this message for the first time last week :( I have had EVERY problem listed on this board :cry I don't know yet what the cause is or if it will come back (probably will) ANOTHER trip to the dealer :(