Get in the Zone...

No, I'm not referring to the Dallas Cowboys and their apparent allergy to entering the End Zone. I have neither the time nor the bandwidth to tackle that issue.

I had a very odd problem today. The alternator on my '06 F-350 wasn't charging. It had a lifetime warranty so I yanked it off and swapped it for another one at Autozone. Bought one there in the first place so if I had a problem on the road it would be an easy exchange. That turned out not to be the case because they couldn't find it in the computer, but I digress. We'll cover this later.

Put the new alternator on and the dang thing wouldn't charge. I checked everything that was obvious (wires, fuses, ect) but found nothing. Checked my Scangauge and no fault codes. There is no shame in admitting defeat, especially with a 6.0 Powerstroke. So I took it to a friend that is a former Ford tech and had done work for me in the past, including installing the alternator last February and showing me a really cool little kickstand on the belt tensioner to remove the serpentine belt after I had struggled with it for wayyy too long. He went over it and couldn't find the problem. 

After about an hour of testing fuses and connections he remembered something he had seen before. There is a wiring harness connector between the fender and right hand battery that goes to the 2nd alternator if you have one. If you don't have one it's just a loop or jumper connection. A mouse had chewed through the jumper wire. He said for some reason mice love that wire. A 10 cent crimp butt connector and everything started working.

Guess I should give Autozone credit for their alternator not being bad, but man it was quite the hassle getting them to honor the warranty because they couldn't find it in their computer. I know I bought it there because I posted about it talking to Ford techs on a Ford Truck forum when I bought it and even listed the Autozone part number (Duralast DL3668-8-11). Probably should have tested it before exchanging, too...

Anyway, sorry about that Autozone. But you need to step up that customer service a smidge. Thank goodness I wasn't on the road and had to exchange it. Now I have to dig out my 2014 tax receipts so they will re-enter it in their computer system.