1G 15.4+ voltage spike

[JBDdsmer610]

I was driving my car yesterday and it started throwing a CEL...I thought maybe my CAS plug came loose a little but that's not the CEL. issue I need to hook up my laptop and check the CEL, but late last night I noticed my dash lights and headlights get really bright and I looked down at my turbo timer and it said loke 15.5 volts I turned on my heater full blast and my defroster and I got it to drop to about 12.9-13.4...I'm guessing my alternator is taking a crap. Can anyone shed some info on this issue. I have s lifetime warrenty on my alternator so I can get a new one if need be

 

[Maes]

Happened to me before a few times and it was my alternator.

 

[JBDdsmer610]

I figured as much...zither voltage regulator prolly took a crap...but now I'm having issues with auto zone, I've had a lifetime warrenty on alternators since I bought my first DSM in 2006, and I just replaced the one that's on the car in August of last year and they are telling me you can only swap it out once...so what's the point of having a lifetime warrenty

 

[Maes]

That's bull have swap mine out at least six different times. They haven't been in stock in years and it's like a special order

 

[pauleyman]

Read the fine print. Dont drive it like that unless you like fried electronics. Ive never used parts store units. I took my oem unit to an alternator shop and had that unit rebuilt and put back on the car. Better shops wont use cheap voltage regulators. My 90 tsi had its original alternator on it for 99% of its life until 2006.
I bought a new bosch 90 amp when the voltage regulator failed again. Unit was only rebuilt twice in 200k.

 

[JBDdsmer610]

yea its deff my alternator and thats what i figured....when i would first start the car and the under hood temps weren't that high yet i would see my voltage spike as high as 15.8 volts then once the car would actually warm up and it would get hot under the hood the voltage would really start to drop and as low as 10.4-11.5. i didn't drive it for a day or so and earlier tonight i had something really important i had to do and i had no choice but to drive my car and on the way home i saw my voltage drop as low as 8.8 volts and when it got that low the car barley wanted to run it started popping and breaking up and wouldn't want to go....luckily i was only 2-3 miles from my house and i was able to limp it home and as soon as i got it into the parking spot it died but atleast she got me home. now tomorrow i need to go try and deal with auto zone and the warrenty crap they are saying its not even in the system that i have a lifetime warrenty on the alternators and I've swapped atleast 6-7 alternators out since i bought the first one in 2006 when i got my first DSM but they gave me this issue once before saying i didnt have a warrenty. im gonna try and get a new one from autozone tomorrow and i think im gonna look into doing the GM/saturn Alternator swap that i see people talking about on the forums, I'm deff gonna look into it and if not that i may spend the 200+ dollars and go with the Denso Alternator.......And as far as finding or getting a factory unit and getting it rebuilt me and my father looked into that a number of years back and couldnt find anyone in the area or within 100 miles that would rebuild my Alternator for me.

 

[boostdawd]

Auto zone alternators are crap. I've had some fail right out the box. It is a lifetime warranty so don't let them tell u otherwise. Probably a new person who doesn't know what he's doing. Ask to speak to a manager or ask for the district managers number and they'll swap out it for u asap. Honestly I would waste my time with the auto zone alternators. Look into getting the alternator swap for best voltage. U can find some at your local junkyard for 30 dollars. Here's a link if u decide to go that route.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/important-improvements-on-saturn-alternator-swap.344794/