OT: My work van died today.

[LaRue Medlin]

To start with, yes it's a chevy.. no comments... Now,, I've had no problems at all with the van and suddenly today, I'm working in the back, van running, extra cooling fan running,ac running, and a nice pleasant 190* temp on the gauge. (95* outside) then all of a sudden,,, blah.. it just shuts off. Just like I turned the key. NO power anywhere. Plenty of juice in the battery, can't jump it, battery won't charge, NADA< NOTHING< ZILCH! BUT..... there is a clicking noise coming from the middle of the dash. Kinda like a flasher click.. Disconnect the battery it goes away. So I'ma thinking, something electrical, but why would this happen just out of thin air??? Had to have it towed home and wait for Monday. Also,, for some reason the steering wheel won't lock. Any guesses. NO ""IT"S A CHEVY"" is not the problem.

 

[Dale Paris]

you may have blown the main fuse that runs the computer. It'll be about a 60 amp fuse and should be in the main fuse block. It happened to my ford van once and I could get lights, fuel, radio, and everything except run.

Had it towed home and had my uncle(FOMOCO) mech look at it and took him about 5 min to find and replace.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Could be the alternator.



My 96 Chevy Blazer with the Vortex V6 had an alternator go at around 30k miles. Up until then it worked like a champ, but then, one day (actually when on a trip to NY for my brother's wedding, but that's another story), it simply died on my wife as she drove it up the driveway.



Couldn't turn over after that... click, click, but no turn over.



Seems AC Delco had a problem with dry bearings on their alternators for several years. The bearing heats up, it in turn burns out the voltage regulator on the alternator, which in turn means your battery gets drained and your car goes dead. The tell-tale sign is a slight clicking/ticking sound of the bearing in the alternator as the car runs. A good Chevy mechanic when he hears that usually says: "Be ready to replace the alternator any month now!". Once I replaced the alternator, she purred.



TJR

 

[Lauren Y]

HI ROSE!



LaRue...I have no idea...

 

[Tom Schindler]

LaRue,



Sorry I can't be of any assistance. I know very little about GM vehicles. If it were a Ford, I might be of a little better help.



Hopefully it isn't too serious and it is covered under warranty.



Good Luck.





Tom

 

[Richard L]

LaRue,

TJR is correct. It sounds like a fried alternator. That is very typical of the newer Delco Alternators. Just replace the alternator with a rebuilt one, and that should solve your problems. My son-in-law's 96-Chevy Lumina did exactly the same thing and it was his alternator.



...Rich

 

[LaRue Medlin]

Well, here's the poop.... I have a "regulator/isolater thingy" that takes the charge from the alt and splits it into 2 batteries. 1 for the truck and 1 deep cell marine battery for the key machines. Now I need to find another one...it's dead. BTW,, no warranty from chevy, cash out on this,, go figure... oh well..

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Many companies sell those. Basically, they are designed so that you can run 2 batteries on what was a single battery system. With it, it will charge the second battery.

 

[Tom Schindler]

LaRue,



Check Camping World. They are used in the RV industry to charge the "house" battery along with the chassis battery. I think they cost about $70.00.





Tom

 

[Gerald Pierce]

Hope it didn't cost to much to id this problem.... 45.00 from camping world to fix, you ought to be able to by it locally for less -- CW is normally very high in price, but still not bad if that is the only source you can find.

 

[LaRue Medlin]

It cost 100$ to diagnose and 50$ to fix.... Installed a new 90 amp isolator and we're up and running strong...

 

[Gerald Pierce]

good for ya LaRue..... I know that van is your business. At least it's tax deductable

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Not a bad price to get it back..



Good for you...

 

[Tom Schindler]

Actually, Camping World is alot cheaper then most. My family has been camping for years. I am talking since the 70's. Owned alot of Motorhomes in the past. At the moment, we have two of them.



1985 Coachmen Classis Calss C 26' and a 1998 Coachmen Catalina Class A 34'.



When we got our 1985, it did not have an AC on the coach. We had connections to buy from an RV Distributor. If we would have gotten it from Camping World, we would have spent $100.00 more for the exact same unit. All the local dealers wanted $250.00 more then Camping Worlds price.





Tom