06 Alternator Question

[MChildress]

My son bought a new to him 06 3500 Black DRW a couple months back. Which looks almost a twin to my 04. 5. He found me at a friends last night and said he believed his alternator had quit charging. His lights were getting dim and the voltage gauge on his radar detector was showing 8 volts along with the check gauges warning. He checked his Edge Insight and found codes P2509 and P2503 thrown. Which I believe will throw when the alternator not charging. We popped the hood and the AC compressor clutch was smoking. We shut her down and put a charger on the batteries and let her cool down.
We fired her up a few hours later and found the alternator still not charging but got her home and put a charger back on the batteries.

This morning we checked the fuse link from alternator to battery and found it good. I unplugged the alternator's electrical connection and it looked good then plugged it back in. We started the truck up and presto 14. 7 volts.

I'm curious if anyone else might have some insight on this. The truck has 120,000 miles and hadn't planned on replacing the alternator just yet but might for piece of mind. I am wondering with the low voltage the AC compressor clutch might not get full engagement causing clutch slippage and the smoke. The AC is working fine this morning with everything charged up.

 

[6speed]

I just rebuilt both the alternator and starter. They were still working when I took them off, but close to 200k on the clock, it was just piece of mind. The starter was kind off a PITA to get out.

 

[MChildress]

Well the Alternator quit charging again yesterday and my son went ahead and replaced it. He is rebuilding the old one so we will have a spare.