Pontiac Repair: 2002 pontiac montana battery light., pontiac montana, car parts stores

Question
Battery light comes on and stays on. Battery cables checked for good contact and are OK. Mechanic changed alternator with a rebuilt unit with a lifetime warranty and problem is still there. He claims the alternator is charging. He also said the original one was charging before he replaced it. Everything works on this car except the fuel gage. I am the only driver for 90,000 miles. Any thoughts?

Answer
Hi Dennis:

If the laternator was charging then why was it replaced? any alternator that has a lifetime warranty is not an original equipment. I'm a firm beliver in only replace electrical parts with original equipment parts wether it' a GM ,Ford etc... that said aftemarket parts cuase more issues then they fix. You could still have the original prolem or may have added to it with that on the car now. without seeing it it's hard to say. You could have an internal insterment cluster issue. I would have the car scanned for codes and see what you find. that may lead you to a root cause if any codes are set. most of the big box car parts stores do this for free. If I were to guess I would say the cluster is bad but like I said it's a guess and untill you see what codes may be in the car I would hold off before replacing anything else. good luck :)