270 xp issue?

[C4W18 0]

read a previous post and am hoping that belt slip IS the issue but....

battery light will come on and blink temporarily, lost power steering (not directly related to the serpentine belt due to the fact that it's electronic), and service airbag light came on....

voltage for my car, a chevy cobalt normally rests around 13.5 and kicks up to 14.1, after the alternator install, while the car is idling with no accessories on other than headlights the battery voltage constantly jumps from 13.5 to 14.6 like it's cycling for no reason....

I upgraded the electrical accordingly (the big 3 and a kinetik 1800, a second of which has yet to be installed, etc.)....

I don't know if it's related to the plug that has to plug into the alt (I'm assuming that's the PCM plug)...the plug didn't fit into the alt properly so I had to dremel notches off the plug (car side) for it to fit in the XP...I hope someone has an idea because I could give a fuck less about the battery light but the fact that I'm losing power steering is pretty dangerous and I'd like to get this resolved.

Thanks....

[shizzzon 461]

take what i'm bout to say with a grain of salt but you say the plug didn't fit..

That tells me there is a possibility that the wiring method used in the plug and what it's being plugged into may not be the same wiring method...

You know what i mean?

IE - one wire may be connected to nothing or may be connected to the wrong wire...

There should be no reason for the plug not to fit unless it's the wrong plug.

[DC Power Kyle 21]

please shoot me some pictures if you would please

[C4W18 0]

please shoot me some pictures if you would please

not to sound like a dick kyle, but I already did when I sent the first alternator was sent out to me was wrong...I included a full page print in high res that showed the incorrect amount of pulley grooves and a 3 pin plug instead of a 2 pin.....

It was really nice of Robbie to send me out a replacement one before I even sent out the original one that was sent to me, but it still had the incorrect amount of grooves (Which stan assured me is fine, even though it kind of bothered me I let this roll) and an odd shaped plug just this time it had the correct amount of pins....

However here's a picture:

That was the original one....the shape is still the same for the plug, it just has 2 pins now....

And look, I'm not one to be an arseho, I work with customers and know how busy it is and that sometimes things are overlooked, forgotten, and mistakes are made....but I can't lie...I am getting a little frustrated and just want to know what I need to do on my end to get this alternator right....If you guys need a donation alternator I would be more than happy to ship out a stock one I have or a rewound OEM one on my dime if it would guarantee this problem would be fixed.....

Thank you

Chris

[C4W18 0]

take what i'm bout to say with a grain of salt but you say the plug didn't fit..

That tells me there is a possibility that the wiring method used in the plug and what it's being plugged into may not be the same wiring method...

You know what i mean?

IE - one wire may be connected to nothing or may be connected to the wrong wire...

There should be no reason for the plug not to fit unless it's the wrong plug.

And thank you for your input shizz, but I figured I was the one doing something wrong considering this is the second alt they've sent me because the first one didn't fit correctly....I decided to take it upon myself to "make it work" so to speak by dremeling those two little notches off so it would fit in the two pin plug....obviously something isn't right and I wouldn't doubt that what you're saying is, in fact, correct..

[C4W18 0]

bump...this is kinda a priority considering I need my car for work...

[inkfx 3]

It seems like all I see lately in this DC Power forum is either somebody going on 9 months waiting for an alt they paid for or the persons alt just doesn't work. Hope they get it sorted out for you bro.

[C4W18 0]

Yea, supposedly Stan was going to talk to a tech today and call me back with the next step but that didn't happen......Kyle posted on this thread earlier asking for pictures which I provided, although from what I was told he was out yesterday...can't expect a man to work on his day off etc, but I thought at least one rep from DC would give the tiniest shit that my power steering is intermittent while I'm driving, especially when I paid $656...And really, I'm not complaining just to complain, I'm a very easy guy to please.....I could care less that there's chips in the aluminum casing, an extra groove in the pulley, and a plug that doesn't quite fit my car's PCM plug..I just want my product to work....I'm really glad they're offering a H/O alt for my car, but this is becoming a headache....my girlfriend had to drive me to work today because I'm worried about the lack of power steering and an SRS system while driving. Waiting for someone from DC to care....

[inkfx 3]

They will come in here and tell you they care, then make you wait 3 more months. If they are seriously this overwhelmed with orders they need to back off a little bit until they can catch up. Sorry if I'm ranting in your thread bro but it's just kind of bothering me at this point. I don't think I will ever order an alternator from them unless they make some changes.

[C4W18 0]

I mean, in some ways I respect and praise their C/S, as I've never had DC been rude to me or rush me off the phone, and Robbie's show of good faith by sending me the 2nd alt before I sent back the first one was quite nice and impressed me to say the least, but I'm kind of stuck in limbo right now, and it looks like I'm going to have to put my rewound POS alt back in temporarily...I will say that before these issues came to my attention, I was impressed and could definitely tell the difference between the rewound and the DC power alt.

[inkfx 3]

They are respectful when they do respond. However, that's not the whole 9 when it comes to customer service in my eyes. If the customer, months down the road, is still down $600, and no working product, it's just not acceptable. Like I said, I think they may just have too much on their plate and if so, they need to rethink some strategy. I'm sure they will get you taken care of it's just going to take time, which sucks.

Remember, you can always put on a nice shirt, but it doesn't mean you're being nice.

[C4W18 0]

True. I'm just throwing it in there that it's not 100% a negative experience...there's been some good riddled in there..I try to be an optimist when I can.

[DC Power Kyle 21]

Chris,

I tried calling you and it went straight to voicemail. You have to understand that I don't have someone in my order system as "C4W18" So why i ask for an alternator picture is because I don't honestly know who you are because you never said your name. That's what people seem to forget is that I don't know who they are online half the time. I thought we already sent you a replacement out. The pulley was never wrong you were just counting the pulley incorrectly. I will get this alternator shipped out and handled because I thought you said on your cobalt ss forum that it was already re-sent back out. I was constantly watching that thread but didn't see any updates. Regardless, this was miscommunication on our part and I misunderstood what was being conveyed online. I will ship the alternator back out to you with the 2 pin regulator and you'll be set.

[C4W18 0]

Actually Kyle, you're right in saying I was counting it incorrectly....However, I'm right when it comes to the point I was trying to make, which was that the amount of grooves STILL differ from the OEM alt.....I was (incorrectly) saying "I have a four groove and you sent me a five"...In all reality, the stock alt is a five groove and you guys sent me a six....twice....so yes, I miscounted because I, idiotically counted the hills, not the valleys, however, the grooves are, in fact, still incorrect, as seen by the picture up top. I'm sorry for assuming that I was the only Chris that ordered a 270 XP alternator for a cobalt, that was also my fault, but I did call Stan and explain the situation and waited for a call. I work at a shop in the back, and can't really be on the phone while working on customer's cars, so that's probably why I missed your call....anyways glad to see a response.

Now to clarify, because there seems to be failures in communication on both ends, are you sending me out a different alt than the one mounted in my car now? Or am I taking the one out of my car, sending it in and having it reconfigured?

Anyways, thank you for the response, it is definitely not going unappreciated....

Thanks,

Chris Weber 2.2 2006 Cobalt <---just in case

Edited September 22, 2011 by C4W18

[C4W18 0]

ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE GROOVES!

AH HA HA!

[DC Power Kyle 21]

Actually Kyle, you're right in saying I was counting it incorrectly....However, I'm right when it comes to the point I was trying to make, which was that the amount of grooves STILL differ from the OEM alt.....I was (incorrectly) saying "I have a four groove and you sent me a five"...In all reality, the stock alt is a five groove and you guys sent me a six....twice....so yes, I miscounted because I, idiotically counted the hills, not the valleys, however, the grooves are, in fact, still incorrect, as seen by the picture up top. I'm sorry for assuming that I was the only Chris that ordered a 270 XP alternator for a cobalt, that was also my fault, but I did call Stan and explain the situation and waited for a call. I work at a shop in the back, and can't really be on the phone while working on customer's cars, so that's probably why I missed your call....anyways glad to see a response.

Now to clarify, because there seems to be failures in communication on both ends, are you sending me out a different alt than the one mounted in my car now? Or am I taking the one out of my car, sending it in and having it reconfigured?

Anyways, thank you for the response, it is definitely not going unappreciated....

Thanks,

Chris Weber 2.2 2006 Cobalt <---just in case

Chris,

You're right. We do use a 6 groove instead of a 5 groove. You just run the belt on the inner 5 grooves and it doesn't affect anything at all. I have actually have two cobalt orders that are similar: You being Chris, and another being Kris ordered in the same time period. So we will send this out as an RVC, with a 6 groove pulley and you'll be good to go. I apologize for the mixup.

[C4W18 0]

Yea that's what Stan told me...Thanks though....and apology accepted, some of this was my fault as well. When are you guys going to be finished with those T-Shirts? Have to wear "audio related apparel" at my job so I wouldn't mind snagging one of those.

[DC Power Kyle 21]

Chris,

The shirts are TBD. We will blow up SSA and facebook when they're ready.

[C4W18 0]

Word sounds good. Shoot me a tracking number if you can later on that alt with the RVC...thanks man!

[C4W18 0]

Well everything went well, other than me losing my lugnut lock key, so I had to grind down the serpentine belt bar to 1/3 its size so I could remove / install the alternator from the top side (generally done from underneath with the cobalt)....anyways, the new alternator is sick....Plug fit PERFECTLY this time...third times a charm I guess....

anyways, still kind of nervous about driving my car because of that whole power steering / srs issue earlier, but I'm going to give it a good go round tomorrow taking it easy of course....

anyways kyle just a couple more questions:

What exactly did you change on the new alternator that wasn't in the old one? I know it's compatible with my PCM now (well not 100% sure yet but it's sure as hell not cycling voltage like it was with the other one)....is it solely the RVC? or was a regulator changed out? or do these two go hand in hand or vice versa etc..

I'm assuming this alternator was either used or tested a bit due to the copper coils inside looking a little dirty and some pulley damage (just scrapes on the outer rim of the pulley, no functional damage, just cosmetic, and I don't mind this at all, just wondering if this was tested or used previously with success?)...

Anyways thanks Kyle, appreciate the help in this process even though it was somewhat a bitch for the both of us.

Edited September 30, 2011 by C4W18

[DC Power Kyle 21]

Well everything went well, other than me losing my lugnut lock key, so I had to grind down the serpentine belt bar to 1/3 its size so I could remove / install the alternator from the top side (generally done from underneath with the cobalt)....anyways, the new alternator is sick....Plug fit PERFECTLY this time...third times a charm I guess....

anyways, still kind of nervous about driving my car because of that whole power steering / srs issue earlier, but I'm going to give it a good go round tomorrow taking it easy of course....

anyways kyle just a couple more questions:

What exactly did you change on the new alternator that wasn't in the old one? I know it's compatible with my PCM now (well not 100% sure yet but it's sure as hell not cycling voltage like it was with the other one)....is it solely the RVC? or was a regulator changed out? or do these two go hand in hand or vice versa etc..

All we did was swap the regulator. That's the only thing that was wrong with it. Your alternator got mixed up with someone elses. They got the RVC, you got the 4 pin (Old GM regulator plug). Oops... As for how RVC works, read this article: http://www.duboismarketing.com/pages/article.asp?id=31

I'm assuming this alternator was either used or tested a bit due to the copper coils inside looking a little dirty and some pulley damage (just scrapes on the outer rim of the pulley, no functional damage, just cosmetic, and I don't mind this at all, just wondering if this was tested or used previously with success?)...

The stator isn't dirty. The black you see is how they're made straight from DENSO. All of the stators have that on them. So that was a brand new unit. As for the pulley scrapes, I have no clue... may have been from testing. See this picture that's on our website to see how they're black:

Also, glad everything went well. Sorry for the mixup!