The mighty Kohler starts at -2F

[MossRoad]

Oh, and here's a nice picture of a sun dog yesterday morning. Kind of faint, but it was taken with my phone.

 

[cqaigy2]

I suppose a bad diode or two might cause that, but i'd probably look at the usual culprits, cables, connections and your battery. Battery's have a real dislike of the cold.

But the most probable reason is your alt pulley is just a big ball of ice.....For some reason squirrels will steal alternator pulleys when they have lost their hockey puck and will replace them with ice replicas. One would think if they went to the trouble of making an ice pulley that they could just as easily make an ice puck but i believe the ice replicas are somewhat brittle.

 

[ponytug]

Dear MR,

I'm with Craigy2. My bet would be a loose or corroded on the ground cable, or the connection on the battery, or possibly the connections on the voltage regulator. Given the extreme cold, I would also consider the possibility a fractured interconnect in the battery. It is/was a lot colder and it might have fractured from the cold, or the cold cranking.

If the issue was an ice pulley, I would have expected you to notice some screaming from the belts, but I don't know how the Suburbans react to iced belts.

Feel free to send that snow and rain out this way. We've had two inches of rain since April and we could use the moisture.

All the best,

Peter

 

[k0ua]

Moss, battery would be my first focus, followed by connections, and then start looking for component failure. But I am putting my money on the battery.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, I'm suspecting battery or alternator. Voltage regulator is internal to the alternator.
When it gets warm enough to feel my fingers, I'll inspect the belts, pulleys, belt tensioner and battery cable connections. If that's not it, I'll pull the battery and alternator and take them to Auto Zone for free testing.

 

[BobRip]

It was 74 here..... inside our house, with the furnace AND woodburner going. :laughing: Its -12.5F here this morning. Something went nuts in my electrical system on my 93 Suburban when I started it yesterday to leave work. Volt meter is way down. When I rev the engine it goes up to normal, but not over normal. If I turn on the lights or heater fan full blast, it drops and I have to drastically up the RPMs. It was a fun ride home. I had to keep it in 2nd gear to keep the RPMs up enough to run the heater fan to keep the window defogged. At stop lights I had to toss it in neutral, keep my foot on the gas and turn off the heater fan. Any suggestions other than waiting until spring?

Sounds like some of the diodes in your alternator went bad. It will still put out current, but not the rated amount for any given RPM. Part of the internal 3 phase windings are not being rectified. If possible do a load test on the alternator. Could be a slipping belt too.

 

[MossRoad]

Yep. Its getting warmer.... 5 above right now! :laughing: I'll pull the alternator this weekend and have it tested.

 

[MossRoad]

Turned out that once I opened the hood I found the belt was off the idler pulley. Yikes, I'm embarrassed.

 

[cqaigy2]

Now that's a cheap fix.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah. It only cost me some pride. :ashamed: