I have 2006 Conv with 13,000 miles, 3 1/2 yrs old. Has Lingenfelter Cold Air, Melrose LT Headers with hi-flow cats hooked to Magnaflow Exhaust, HP tune.
"Svc charging sys" msg has been coming on randomly for about two months now- most frequently, when at idle. Dropped car at Chevy dealer this morning to check out. They said Alternator is going and should be replaced- about $800!! Anyone had any alternator issues on C6 Vettes? Dealer said this is the first bad alternator they've seen.

I have 2006 Conv with 13,000 miles, 3 1/2 yrs old. Has Lingenfelter Cold Air, Melrose LT Headers with hi-flow cats hooked to Magnaflow Exhaust, HP tune.
"Svc charging sys" msg has been coming on randomly for about two months now- most frequently, when at idle. Dropped car at Chevy dealer this morning to check out. They said Alternator is going and should be replaced- about $800!! Anyone had any alternator issues on C6 Vettes? Dealer said this is the first bad alternator they've seen.

I would bring the car to another dealer to have it checked out. The down side is that I've heard this before, alternators going bad and then costing a fortune to replace.

Check your horn and see if it works. IIRC the horn fuse is also connected with the alternator.

There's another thread on here about alternator issues as well. I'll see if I can find it for you...

I have 2006 Conv with 13,000 miles, 3 1/2 yrs old. Has Lingenfelter Cold Air, Melrose LT Headers with hi-flow cats hooked to Magnaflow Exhaust, HP tune.
"Svc charging sys" msg has been coming on randomly for about two months now- most frequently, when at idle. Dropped car at Chevy dealer this morning to check out. They said Alternator is going and should be replaced- about $800!! Anyone had any alternator issues on C6 Vettes? Dealer said this is the first bad alternator they've seen.
Thx for the info. New twist to my "service charging system" message:although Chevy says that one terminal of the alternator was defective and not putting out sufficient volts, the new alternator has not fixed the "sevice charging message" from coming on. Chevy dealer said that the idle, which is at 650, needs to go to 700rpm to eliminate this message. However, they cannot adjust any individual settings in the programming- like idle, air-fuel mix, etc- they would have to re-apply the GM software program in its entirety, wiping out the HP tuner program. My HP programmer, who did the orig tune, upped the rpms to 700 at idle, but I am still getting this message at idle, hot or cold engine. Chevy says that the tuner program must be causing this; my tuner said that none of the adjustments he made should have any impact on voltage readings. However, this did start happening after the tuner program was applied. Anyone have any othwer suggestions, would greatly appreciate it. Thx/KWF

I have 2006 Conv with 13,000 miles, 3 1/2 yrs old. Has Lingenfelter Cold Air, Melrose LT Headers with hi-flow cats hooked to Magnaflow Exhaust, HP tune.
"Svc charging sys" msg has been coming on randomly for about two months now- most frequently, when at idle. Dropped car at Chevy dealer this morning to check out. They said Alternator is going and should be replaced- about $800!! Anyone had any alternator issues on C6 Vettes? Dealer said this is the first bad alternator they've seen.

$800??? WTF Call up Corvette Recycling or Parts Taxi, I would bet one of these guys will give you better price on your alternator.

$800??? WTF Call up Corvette Recycling or Parts Taxi, I would bet one of these guys will give you better price on your alternator.

If you still need an alternator, IIRC I sell them for around $380. Sounds like you already had it replaced, if not, I can get you an exact in the morning.

GM has gotten real heavy handed against tunners in cars. Also, I've seen quite a few techs like to blame problems on tuners because they dont understand them....."Techline says to do 1, 2, 3. I can't do #3 because of the tuner program, must be the programmers fault, pay me my diag time, I'm done" type of process. Pretty sad. If you are still having troubles, give me a call and maybe I can find some information for you or get one of my techs involved. Good luck either way.

Thanks
Kevin
www.PartsTaxi.com

I ran into this problem myself when my tuner put in NGK TR6 spark plugs. Several have cured the "Service Charging System" message by going back to ACDelco plugs. So I put in a new set of ACDelco iridium plugs, AND moved the hot wire to the alternator AWAY from the number one spark plug wire - they had been touching over about an inch of length. See photo for new relocated alternator wire at:

OK, so I don't have 10 posts, so I can't post a picture that would be HELPFUL to other members. Hmmmmmmmm


Problem SOLVED, but I don't know which change fixed it !!! :coffeetime: SEE POST #9 BELOW FOR PHOTO.

PS: Why is the alternator so expensive? All the brains are in the ECM, not the alternator. I replaced the alternator on my '64 Valiant with a quality rebuilt part for $19.95, and the rebuilt alternator I put in my 84 Chevy diesel pickup truck in 1991, for $45.95, is still going strong today. I mean TODAY, drove the truck to work today . . .:burnout:

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x290/CleviteKidd/HPS%20of%20FL%20project/witharrows.jpg

So I went out and popped my post count past 10 . . . . . . . . :soapbox:


The yellow arrow is the alternator wire that I moved away from the no. 1 spark plug wire, blue arrow. Now there is at least 3" clearance, and NO "Service Active Handling" message.

If you still need an alternator, IIRC I sell them for around $380. Sounds like you already had it replaced, if not, I can get you an exact in the morning.

GM has gotten real heavy handed against tunners in cars. Also, I've seen quite a few techs like to blame problems on tuners because they dont understand them....."Techline says to do 1, 2, 3. I can't do #3 because of the tuner program, must be the programmers fault, pay me my diag time, I'm done" type of process. Pretty sad. If you are still having troubles, give me a call and maybe I can find some information for you or get one of my techs involved. Good luck either way.

Thanks
Kevin
www.PartsTaxi.com

That is one heck of a difference from what the dealer charges! :patriot:

Dumb question but is there any warranty left on it. Mine had 5 yr 100K miles on it. Replaced starter and the toll bill to get it there.

I just had this exact problem... For me it turned out to be a battery with a dead cell; replacing the battery solved the problem.
Beforehand I did some research on alternators.
Dealer charges $559 + 2-3 hours of install time.
Autozone charges around $229 + 50 core charge. Non OEM part I believe.
Pepboys charges $179.95 + $59 core charge. This is a refurbished unit.

I'd get an OEM one from partstaxi. I've used them before for swaybars and was really happy with the support and quick delivery! :)

same here happend to me, the last week when it was blazin hot out, about 96 degrees,, when car was cold, not problem, 14.4 volts, after a drive with some stop and go traffic i looked down and the volts were at 12.8. didn't get any service charging warning, but i jumped on the highway to head home, after about 20 minutes @ 70mph, the volts started to rise, back up. around 13.9. now thats it cooler out, no problem anymore. sucks cuz warranty is running out in feb, might have to re-up for another 12months

awkward first post

but did you consider taking your alternator to get rebuilt? My alternator went out a few months after I installed a single turbo, the extra heat just finished it off but I got it rebuilt for 100$ even with more heat resistant components, saved a ton of money just pulling it out and putting it back in myself (took a good hour or two getting it out the first time getting used to what all needed to be removed to get to it, i.e. the entire manifold lol)