97SpecialK
Newbie
First and foremost, I must say, this forum is excellent. Now, for my first ever post, I'm looking to you guys for some help. When I bought my 97 K1500 / 5.7L / Auto / 4x4 I noticed a little headlight and interior lighting flicker at night, only at idle. Not much so I ignored it, figuring I'd replace the alternator eventually since it has an internal VR. Now, here we are 10 months and a brand new engine later, and the flicker got way worse, still only at idle. Additionally, I noticed the volt gauge reading around 15v to 15.5v. I'm not entirely positive that this just started, although I think I would have noticed it as I'm usually pretty attentive with my gauges. So, assuming that was a new thing, I figured the VR was about to have a catastrophic meltdown and leave me stranded so, at my first opportunity, I replaced it with a brand new AC Delco OEM series alternator. I was right about the flickering, the new alternator cleared that right up. What has me scratching my head, however, is that the volt gauge still reads between 15v and 15.5v. Stranger still is that the volts will eventually settle down right at 14.5v after the truck has been running a while. I was hoping someone on here might have some insight on this. Maybe it's totally normal behavior and I'm not as good of an amateur mechanic as I think I am. Any input is appreciated.