Do I have a bad alternator???

Hey Fellas,

Is there a way to test and see if my alternator is crapping out on me?

Cheers

 

yes, most auto stores can test it...


what are the symtoms you are facing? easiest way i found to test the alternator is to start the car and see what the voltage across the battery is. should be 13-14VDC

 

Symptoms are my clock is resetting to 1:00 every time I turn the truck on.

My ultragauge says Im rolling at 13.4, so that isn't the problem. I am really trying to figure out why the clock is resetting all the time, and once yesterday, the clock didn't even turn on. Sounds like a fuse or connection, but basically the clock is thinking that the battery is disconnected every time...

 

Grassy Ass Chris

 

Make sure the battery terminals are clean and tight. Poor, bad connections can be a cause of a lot of grief. Really it's Direct Current it really does not work well on poor connections. Even after you fix it, it might take time to go away if the battery was not charging properly. It's not only the connections on the posts of the battery where problems could be, the wires could be connected poorly to the terminals themselves.

I give a lady a boost the other day and her battery terminals where like just sitting on the battery and the wires where all goofed to hell too so it was not even charging up. Really poor shape. No wonder she was having problems.