ok so im delivering a pizza today and i turn the rig off but leave the lights and stereo on...2 minutes later i return to fire her up to go back to the shop and she won't start...she turns over 1 time and dies...so i turn everythign off and wait about 5 minutes and try again where she tries to turn 2 times and dies again. i put it into reverse and pop start her and begin to drive back. 1/2 way to the shop my interior lights begin getting dimmer and dimmer and dimmer and my tach dies along with my ebrake light coming on. so what the heck? she was running just fine it's just my entire inside lights were dim and my tach dies to 0. any idea's what i need to do to fix it? tomorrow im going to fire her up and disconnect the battery. if it is the alternator the track won't stay running but if it IS the battery it'll stay running fine. any other possibilities that you can think of that might help me out? thanks  

Don't pull off a battery cable,
you can blow the computer or
some other electronic parts like
in the ignition, just get the alternator
replaced, get a good quality rebuilt
or a used low mile stock one

This has happened to me several times

Wild

damn so i do need an alternator? i dont' understand why the kick would be running completely fine except for the gauges with a busted alternator..u'd think it would run bad because the alt wouldn't be putting out power to run the truck. i was thinking of gettnig the gm alt bracket and putting a nice 90 amp on her

Ya, I don't know either, but I was
driving home and all the light's on the
dash came on, and then went out, the
radio blinked and went off, even lost
the time and presets, but the truck
kept running    I thought the same
as you did, how is it still running, but
it was, thank God I got home and didn't
have to walk

Wild

i dont have an ijection , but my carb version had a simular prob. you dont tend to notice until you stop switch off and when you got to start it again you cant,

The engine doesnt take much power to keep it running.
i can do about 120 miles on my battery when the alternator goes, I fitted a volt meter so i can keep an eye on the charge and batt power

i had that prob and it turned out to be either a losse connectin or corroded terminals

take off ur terminals and clean everything real good..put the battery on a charger when its charged put it back together sinch it down really well and go from there

this happens to me all the time..i just get out turn the terminal 180 degrees and itl fire right up (it scrapes the crap off the post so it makes a contact) im pretty sure it has something to do with the ground..

Mine ran 300 km's with a broken alt   and then died   fortunately we were with 2 cars and We put his battery in mine and it ran fine  

I managed 70 miles in mine after the alternator warning light came on, in the dark with the headlights and wipers on. I had to give up when the lights were too dim and the indicators wouldn't work any more - was still running good though. You don't need much of a spark if the engines not under much load.

mine discharged while driving every few days .changed alt ,didnt fix ,new bat ,didnt fix it .talked to buddy who owns a alt shop after about 2 months of not being able to drive with lights , its the belt , it was slipping . no squealing looked tight ,guy suggested a belt with cross ribs not just ribs lenght ways . he was right it fixed it .said it had happened a few times on trackers turned out to fix it most of the time

x2 on checking things like belt tension, ground connections & batt terminals. Doesn't take much spark to ignite the fuel in the engine, and keep it going, and it only happens for a fraction of a second 2 times per rotation of the engine. The engine will run very well, while all the other electrical components will start freaking out as they go from 13 to, 12 to 10, to 9, to 8V. It couldn't hurt to hook up a volt meter ($3 from harbor freight, or 'rent' one from wal-mart) and check your DC voltage to verify it's low.

You can call around to see if there's a local shop that will rebuild your alt to do more power (should be able to get 70-80 with a stocker). Bolt-out-bolt-in solution with more power    Not really needed unless you're running a lot of heavy-draw accessories.

yes on checking belt, terminals, etc., but you really need a volt meter to check battery voltage and alternator output.
11.5 volts is a dead battery.
jump it and check voltage at battery at fast idle. 13.5-14.5 volts means alternator is working and battery is no good.
battery voltage means alternator is not charging.
if terminals and belt seem ok, then you probably need a new(i get rebuilts w/lifetime warranty)alternator.
sorry

Just an update: This was one of many problems he had with his tracker. Eventually he gave up and sold it to me, not running with the fuel system torn out of it. I went through and reinstalled the fuel system, tank, etc. and dicovered a bad ECM with warranty stickers on it. I sent it in and got it fixed under warranty and it ran like a top from then on. This track was known as the Green Goblin while I had it. Then I sold it to another member on here who I beleive is parting it out. A lot has happened to the Tracker that this topic was about, but then again look at the dates, this topic is 4 years old! LOL!

i was wheeling one night, it was pretty cold and dark out.  So of course i had my heater on high, had my lights on hi, then when my little 1.3 got a little warm my E-fan kicked on....Then about 15 min later the everything started to dim out, and the alt light came.  Turned the heater off, and clicked my lights  back down to low and everything came right back up.  I guess the stock 40 amp alt isn't enough anymore.

Amilla