Took the truck out the other day for a drive down to Jersey, and noticed that the battery gauge was stuck at 9, and the battery light was flashing…
The plug to the voltage regulator on top of the alternator decided to fall off, and land on the exhaust header….which was blazing hot, and turned the plug into a puddle of molten plastic.
The laughs began when I started trying to find the part… Autozone, no dice. NAPA? No dice (they had a 3 wire one, where mine had only 1 wire, but I’ll get to that next). So I stop at Healey Chevy in Goshen. $75.
SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS FOR A PLUG AND A FEW INCHES OF WIRE. This isn’t a BMW, it’s a 20 year old pickup truck, with a part number so common that dozens of different models had the same exact part!
I wasn’t even going to waste my time with the local boneyard. They’re more concerned with cashing out by selling the parts to overseas refurbishing agents who re-sell us our own parts at a premium than allowing someone with an old car/truck to pick a part or two to keep their toy running.
So I stop at the Goshen NAPA, and find out after the guy made a phone call – that the 3 wire will work, I just need to use the “L” wire, and he’s also getting me an OEM unit (used)… Took all of… 5 minutes. Hopefully after a quick splice tomorrow, the Chevy will be back in fighting form, and I hope so. It still uses R12 refrigerant and cools off quicker and stronger than my 4 year old Volkswagen.
Cool. Hehehehehehe.
