96-98 Vortec Alternator Upgrade AD244

[qukon 95]

i will get that ad244r 160 amp thats on 07 tahoes my ad244 135 amp does handle the efan,ac,blower on hi with know problem

 

[mr98z71]

why is it that the stock alternator "exciter plug" has one prong but the Ad244 harness has 2 prongs on the plug? Where does this spare wire go?

 

[silverado13]

i will get that ad244r 160 amp thats on 07 tahoes my ad244 135 amp does handle the efan,ac,blower on hi with know problem

i had to put a 200 amp alternator in my truck becasue of the 2 electric fans, HIDs and A/C, runs great now

 

[83GMCK2500]

1996 Vortec 7400 AD244 Install Notes

My 8 month old ACDelco reman CS144 (I think that's the OEM 454 one) went out on me this weekend. Pulled it off and found an ever-so-slightly bent shaft, bearings making pretty-pretty noises. Knew about this upgrade, so I went alternator shopping. I found Napa 1N-4807HO, which is a brand new 200A AD244 unit with a lifetime warranty. In their product notes they mentioned that it requires a cable upgrade kit, sold separately. I am not one to create a situation where if I do need to warranty it, they fail to honor it because I didn't install the cable upgrade. Holy crap, cable upgrade indeed; it is for the charging wire, and it is a nice heavy 2 Ga piece of work.

Easy-peasy, remove belt, unbolt old one, remove, remove rear support bracket and ready for new parts.

Now, the CS144 alt I had used the rectangular regulator plug, where-as the CS130 & AD244 uses the oval plug. I knew this going into it and therefore purchased the oval-style pigtail as well. Did not need to splice/solder anything as the metri-pack pins are the same, unpin old rectangular plug, pin on new oval plug. At this time I also included the voltage sensing circuit that mr98z71 mentions in his thread (HERE). I connected mine to the battery at this time, until I upgrade the crossover/feed to the fuse panel itself I'd rather not cook things. Using an '02 Escalade as my reference I looked at the wiring diagram for the alternator and found that the AD244 uses both the L and the I or F pins (seen it referenced by either letter). L is the brown wire that is the charge light indicator, I/F pin is the field engage/excite circuit. For reference, both are ECM driven on the Escalade. (great, when I do my 0411 swap I'll be sure to include them) I left the brown wire circuit alone, but I added the I/F circuit and tied it into switched power at the fuse panel. Did you need to do this? I don't know, but I did. Now, pictures...

New parts.

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Oval pigtail, removed extras, plugged unused.

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Pret-ty!

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Cable kit has inline fuse holder identical to the one GM used on GMT-400s with heated seats (including Escalade/Denali/Tahoe/Suburban) and similar to ones on S-series (98/99+, under battery). I trimmed out one of the available windows on the cover and fastened my fuse block power lead to the battery side of the fuse holder as well. (Reduced clutter around battery post.)

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[83GMCK2500]

So what was the jist of an AD244 upgrade on a TBI motor? Yay/nay, drill out a mount hole larger? Mount spacing the same?

 

[silverado13]

1996 Vortec 7400 AD244 Install Notes

My 8 month old ACDelco reman CS144 (I think that's the OEM 454 one) went out on me this weekend. Pulled it off and found an ever-so-slightly bent shaft, bearings making pretty-pretty noises. Knew about this upgrade, so I went alternator shopping. I found Napa 1N-4807HO, which is a brand new 200A AD244 unit with a lifetime warranty. In their product notes they mentioned that it requires a cable upgrade kit, sold separately. I am not one to create a situation where if I do need to warranty it, they fail to honor it because I didn't install the cable upgrade. Holy crap, cable upgrade indeed; it is for the charging wire, and it is a nice heavy 2 Ga piece of work.

Easy-peasy, remove belt, unbolt old one, remove, remove rear support bracket and ready for new parts.

Now, the CS144 alt I had used the rectangular regulator plug, where-as the CS130 & AD244 uses the oval plug. I knew this going into it and therefore purchased the oval-style pigtail as well. Did not need to splice/solder anything as the metri-pack pins are the same, unpin old rectangular plug, pin on new oval plug. At this time I also included the voltage sensing circuit that mr98z71 mentions in his thread (HERE). I connected mine to the battery at this time, until I upgrade the crossover/feed to the fuse panel itself I'd rather not cook things. Using an '02 Escalade as my reference I looked at the wiring diagram for the alternator and found that the AD244 uses both the L and the I or F pins (seen it referenced by either letter). L is the brown wire that is the charge light indicator, I/F pin is the field engage/excite circuit. For reference, both are ECM driven on the Escalade. (great, when I do my 0411 swap I'll be sure to include them) I left the brown wire circuit alone, but I added the I/F circuit and tied it into switched power at the fuse panel. Did you need to do this? I don't know, but I did. Now, pictures...

New parts.

You must be registered for see images attach

Oval pigtail, removed extras, plugged unused.

You must be registered for see images attach

Pret-ty!

You must be registered for see images attach

Cable kit has inline fuse holder identical to the one GM used on GMT-400s with heated seats (including Escalade/Denali) and similar to ones on S-series (98/99+, under battery).

You must be registered for see images attach

bravo bravo, awesome work and awesome write up

 

[1998burb]

Dual battery

First off thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread. Super easy swap and happy I got the CS144 swapped out it wasn't holding above battery voltage at idle and I want efans so it had to go. I've got a question for anyone that has dual batteries that has done this swap. When I got the cable upgrade kit from NAPA they didn't show one for trucks with dual batteries. I'm sure it's not a huge difference but I don't want the driver's side battery seeing a slightly lower voltage than the passenger side battery and setting me up for miss matching my batteries. Anybody with dual batteries swap out the cable across the top of the fan shroud for a bigger cable? The big three mod would do this for sure but all the posts I've read about that seem to be for single battery trucks... Guess I'll have a stereo shop make one up for me. For anyone reading up on this swap it's very straight forward! I had to change the plug on my harness, the pin on my suburban's harness didn't quite fit there was a small tab at the end of the crimp connection that I had to bend back. Then it snapped right into the new oval style plug. The cable kit from NAPA was easy too unscrewed the old alternator supply wire from the alternator and the fan shroud and cut it from the battery connector. New supply cable fit right up fuse holder even screwed into the original holes. Ran the ground cable from the alternator bracket to the passenger side frame rail. Only (non) issue I ran into was I wasn't able to take the old rear attach off the alternator bracket. The bolt closest to the t stat hit the intake manifold before it was completely unthreaded. Since I was doing this in the hotel parking lot I didn't want to do any more disassembly than I had to. So I just left it on, new alternator slid right into the old mount and reused the original mounting bolts. Appreciate feed back from the forum, and thanks to everyone for sharing!

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[BOTTLEDZ28]

Did GM change the plug on the alternators from 96-99? Some have said that this was a plug and play while others say it wasnt. I have a 98 which has a the white oval plug with one brown wire.


I just found out that the AD244 will have the correct plug for my model year. FWIW, the AcDelco part number for the 145A upgraded alt is ACDelco 321-2128

 

[83GMCK2500]

I've got a question for anyone that has dual batteries that has done this swap. When I got the cable upgrade kit from NAPA they didn't show one for trucks with dual batteries. I'm sure it's not a huge difference but I don't want the driver's side battery seeing a slightly lower voltage than the passenger side battery and setting me up for miss matching my batteries. Anybody with dual batteries swap out the cable across the top of the fan shroud for a bigger cable? ... Appreciate feed back from the forum, and thanks to everyone for sharing!

There are two different dual battery configurations. One in parallel (6.5 trucks, typically) and one as auxiliary. With the parallel connection they are both constantly part of the starting/charging/operating system. The auxiliary battery is connected to the system when vehicle is running, providing power to the Remote Battery Stud in the Fuse/Relay Center. Double check the cable across the top of your fan shroud, does it connect the batteries or does it supply power to the Fuse/Relay Center? I consider upgrading a battery crossover cable if they are in parallel. I would consider upgrading the Fuse/Relay Center cable if I was operating a lot of accessories through the factory system.

Did GM change the plug on the alternators from 96-99? Some have said that this was a plug and play while others say it wasnt. I have a 98 which has a the white oval plug with one brown wire.


I just found out that the AD244 will have the correct plug for my model year. FWIW, the AcDelco part number for the 145A upgraded alt is ACDelco 321-2128

CS130s have the oval plug, didn't change through their run. CS144s have a rectangular plug, didn't change through their run. It is necessary to consider which alternator a person has when they state "plug and play" or "not plug and play". I was not plug and play because I was removing a CS144.

 

[BOTTLEDZ28]

This is the plug on my 98

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