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batteries? alternator? what?

3K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  bhill2625 
#1 ·
Heres whats goin on with the truck. its an 03 6.0 powerstroke. the last month or so my stereo has been flickering on and off a lot and the subwoofers rarely work. At night the headlights flicker pretty intensly. I got the batteries check out at oreilly, one was bad, so i changed it. I got one with 875 CCA instead of 750. I thought the problem was taken care of! Now the stereo, subs, and headlights still do the same thing but now the guage cluster has joined the fun and will drop as if the truck is off...then go all the way up for a few seconds...then drop all the way off again....then go back to normal. Also, the battery light flickers on and off just barely. I had replaced the alternator maybe a month or two ago. What the heck should I do next!?
 
#2 ·
Did you get the ALT from the dealer? Sometimes you can get a 'bad' ALT from places like Advanced Auto and Napa. Your best bet is to get a direct replacement from the dealer. Yeah, your going to pay a little more, but your not getting a rebuild, your getting an all new one!
 
#3 ·
nope i bought it from oreilly. so would that be everyones best guess? try another alternator? Ill check on pricing for one from the dealer tomorrow. Could it also have been that i made that alternator go bad bc it was put under so much immediate stress form having a bad battery?
 
#4 ·
Could be. But it sounds like a defective ALT.
 
#6 ·
If you got it from Oreilly's, they should have a lifetime warrenty on it. Take it back and get them to trade it out for a new one. Also, how big of a system do you have? You have to have a pretty big system or a WHOLE bunch of other stuff running to kill one of these alternators. One more thing, how many miles on your truck?
 
#7 ·
i believe id get them to check or swap you out alternator if you want to , i may be wrong but it sounds like you also might have a bad ground follow both battery ground leads , there was a recall on the negative post on right front corner of block due to it coming loose on certqain models ,but all could do that , believe i would look there
 
#8 ·
i run my laptop, 2 12in subs (nothin major) and an overhead dvd player and in dash dvd player. The truck has 86,000 miles on it. I tlaked to oreilly and there is a lifetime warranty on it so im getting it swapped for free! ill let yall know if it works out when its all said and done.
 
#9 ·
it's the alternator. i had the same problem, changed both batteries, then had the alternator rebuilt, then rebuilt again, then i have to take it off again because it happened again last night. this is all within the last 9 months and less than 5,000 miles. Ford HAD to know these were going to be a problem because they made the alternator WAY TOO easy to take off. I will also be intalling a voltage gauge in the truck soon.
 
#10 ·
flickering gauges and headlights doesnt sound like an alternator though. if it were the alternator, the stuff would dim out not just turn off like a lightswitch. i would try the ground idea or check any other wiring that runs from the batteries and fuses. something must be loose. good luck and keep us posted.
EDIT: if it was the alternator, woudlnt the truck die too becasue the HEUI injectors would fail due to them not getting any voltage.....?
 
#11 ·
My 03 6.0L is doing the same thing. I had mine rebuilt, it failed the next day, then I bought a Wilson rebuilt and it failed a week later. I too am being told the cheap *** Chinese diodes in the rebuilts are to blame and the Ford OEM does not use the poor quality Chinese components the rebuilders are using. To add to that, Kwebster1 my truck is doing the exact flickering lights and diving gauges yours is. I'm installing a Ford OEM this week too!
 
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