We have our Traverse for 2 weeks now and the volt meter had always stayed at the 15 mark. However, on the commute home yesterday and I noticed the volt meter dropped to below 13. It is my belief that alternator output should be around 13.5 to 14.5.
While I stopped for grocery and at the gas station, I observed (once after I started up the car) that the needle would start at 15 and gradually drop to below 13. I have a Scanguage II and it confirmed the OBD reading of 12.7-12.9.
This morning the car is doing the same thing so I pressed the onstar button and requested a full diagnostics report. I found out that onstar couldn't really troubleshoot for trouble unless there is a check-engine light or dash message... The onstar rep then offered to connect me to my dealership. I explained the problem to my dealership's service guy and he asked me what car I am driving. After hearing "Traverse" and he just said "that is normal and Traverse shuts off the alternator when it is not need".
So I kept on driving to work and for the next hour the voltage hoovered between 12.5 & 12.6. Toward the end of my commute, the voltage did go back to 13.5 for a brief moment but then dropped back to 12.7...
So is this a normal behavior with our Traverse alternator? My DRL and radio and fan all work and stayed on this morning. And I did measure the remote negative and positive terminals with a multi-meter, I got 13.1 v.
While I stopped for grocery and at the gas station, I observed (once after I started up the car) that the needle would start at 15 and gradually drop to below 13. I have a Scanguage II and it confirmed the OBD reading of 12.7-12.9.
This morning the car is doing the same thing so I pressed the onstar button and requested a full diagnostics report. I found out that onstar couldn't really troubleshoot for trouble unless there is a check-engine light or dash message... The onstar rep then offered to connect me to my dealership. I explained the problem to my dealership's service guy and he asked me what car I am driving. After hearing "Traverse" and he just said "that is normal and Traverse shuts off the alternator when it is not need".
So I kept on driving to work and for the next hour the voltage hoovered between 12.5 & 12.6. Toward the end of my commute, the voltage did go back to 13.5 for a brief moment but then dropped back to 12.7...
So is this a normal behavior with our Traverse alternator? My DRL and radio and fan all work and stayed on this morning. And I did measure the remote negative and positive terminals with a multi-meter, I got 13.1 v.