onebad95z

Hi I just bought a 2001 corvette zo6. Its keeps having charge system fault come across the dash. I have hptuner pro, I disabled 1638 and 1637, but still get the charge system fault. I heard it could be the alternator, it has a prostart 13721 alternator. The car is charging fine, just has this aggravating display. Any help would be great, thanks.

Z06ufgrad2002

I'm not sure if anyone has ever figured out the 100% definitive reason for this occurring. It can be linked to many things such as weak battery, bad alternator, loose/bad grounds. I believe some have also linked it to a bad ignition switch. But, I have heard of a workaround for it. That is to turn the key to the on position for 3-5 seconds prior to starting the car. I have not tried the latter as my car is not running at the moment. But, I do occasionally get the message even though my car is kept on a battery tender when not in use.

Dcollins3208

I found that the small wire connected to the 1/2 inch portion of the starter (3 wires combined on the one bolt) had come out of the ring terminal. I bought a new terminal, crimped/soldered it to the wire and re-installed and have never gotten it since.

onebad95z

I tried the 3 to 5 sec, didn't work. It has a aftermarket cam. But I have read on a couple forums on here that 2001 has a 145 amp alternator. This alternator looks brand new and I looked it up and its 110 amp. When I try to look it up by year it shows that the 110 amp is right for it. I just don't know if I should buy a 145 amp alternator for it or what. The battery is fine I know that, and everytime I look up a 145 amp it shows a decoupler on it for an automatic, but I have a standard.

onebad95z

Dcollins I will have to check that.

Bill Curlee

Here are TWO schematics that every C5 owner should have, understand and USE!





Bill

onebad95z

Thanks for the schematics Bill. I will go over them on the car just soon as we get back out of negative temps here!

tacman

My 2001 Z went through 3 alternators before I found one that it liked. I seen several posts related to this problem in the past. My suggestion is to call a dealer with you VIN to find out exactly what P/N your car was originally built with and replace with an OEM part. Probably Valeo. Of course, if a DIC message is the ONLY issue, then I wouldn't worry about it. Oh yeah, and OEM is 110A for an '01.

onebad95z

Thanks for advice tacman. I have read several things about the alternator not being replaced properly as well. And I can see that the alternator is brand new on it. So I will call the dealer and find out if it is the right one, or what is the correct one. I also looked up the alternator that's on it and it was purchased at Pepboys for 70 dollars. Sounds a little on the cheap side to me.

onebad95z

Ok I called the dealer today with vin and they said it takes alternator Part number 10316182. Is this the alternator that fixed your problem tacman?

onebad95z

Ok, I have checked wiring, found no problems. Battery is new. Car reads 12.4 volts not running, and 14.6 to 14.7 running. I contacted the previous owner and he said that the problem didn't occur until the alternator went out and he replaced it with a new cheap one. He said to change it out for a gm factory alternator. Just would like a few opinions before I spend the big bucks, should this be my next step? Thanks again for any help! And once again I will say the car runs and drives fine, just has that annoying charge system fault code constantly going across the DIC!!!!

Bill Curlee

Sounds very much like you have an alternator that the PCM does NOT like. I would look for the correct model number alternator.

Bill

onebad95z

I wonder what makes the pcm not like the alternator. Anyone figured this out?

Z06ufgrad2002

Good question; as my car still has the original alternator in it and I still get this message. There must be more to this problem than just the aftermarket alternators.

onebad95z

Ok, I put a new 500 dollar ac delco 10316182 alternator on. It fixed the problem finally. Only difference I see with the alternator that was on it is it read 14.5 volts in the car, where this new one only reads 13.5 volts. I went thru a lot of work to find out it was just not accepting the Pepboys alternator. I would recommend always making sure that you spend the extra cash and get the right one the first time. Thanks for all the help everybody!

1BADAZ50TH

I get this message once in a while and I too have the original alternator. I have a good battery. System is charging well. Not too concerned about it, has always started right up.

BigGun

This is a well known issue that has been discussed many times on this forum and elsewhere.

Chris Stewart

I was getting the code and everything was working fine. So I used my tuner to set 1637 = "no error reported". Problem solved.

onebad95z

I had already taken 1637 code out with hptuner, but was still getting the charge system fault across the DIC. I have seen lots of talk about this problem, just never seen an actual cause for it.

Chris Stewart

It could still happen if you set = no MIL light. If you set = no error reported and the message came back, was it storing any codes?