What did Sam's do to my Explores charging system? ECU reset?

[male man]

05 explorer 4.0l. Went to Sam's to get tires rotated, when I left they said "we checked your battery and it was fine" , OK, I had no reason to expect anything else.
On the way home anytime I would climb a steep hill or go to pass someone all of the gauges would fall to the left, the information center would go blank (after a quick "charging system warning") and the airbag/SRS light would come on. as soon as I took my foot off the gas everything would come back.
At home battery voltage was 12.4 and the charger said it had a 65% charge. I charged it and went for a leisurely 1 hour drive then on the way home put the coals to it on a hill and same thing.
Sam's said they took the battery out to check it and their equipment charges it at the same time...connections are clean and tight.
is this a coincidence and what do I do?
Would an ECU reset help...how do I do that ?
Thanks

 

[05XLimited]

It sounds like your charging system is not working at under load. It can be that the battery, or it can be the alternator. If the voltage regulator within the alternator goes bad, then placing the engine under high load will cause an overcharge condition and the charging system cuts out to prevent permanent damage.
I don't know what Sam's does to check the battery, so I can't comment on their procedure.

 

[D Hook]

Why would they take your battery out to rotate your tires?

 

[Dan Whitaker]

Why would they take your battery out to rotate your tires?

Because it's Sam's Club. Why people buy tires from Sam's/Wal-Mart baffles me.

 

[Number4]

The battery would be tested in the car. I've not seen SAM's or Costco take a battery out to check it. If they did this to every car they'd not have enough time in the day.
Sounds suspect. They never used to check a battery as part of doing tires. Unless this changed. If they found the battery low, they may have charged it, but again, sounds odd.

As a disclaimer, I used to work at a SAMs club tire department, I shopped at Costco.

 

[male man]

After my rotation I got my exploder and they said "we did a complimentary battery check and it was fine". I asked them EXACTLY what they did and was told that the battery was removed for a bench test. 2 blocks later the problems started. They gave me a new battery today even though it was 2 1/2 years old. I removed my alternator to have it bench tested at all RPMs and uit was fine so hopefully I'm good.
After the reset procedure my idle is smoother than ever.
Thanks guys!

 

[Turdle]

My speculation:

They cranked up your stereo while rotating the tires and ran the battery down.

 

[D Hook]

After my rotation I got my exploder and they said "we did a complimentary battery check and it was fine". I asked them EXACTLY what they did and was told that the battery was removed for a bench test. 2 blocks later the problems started. They gave me a new battery today even though it was 2 1/2 years old. I removed my alternator to have it bench tested at all RPMs and uit was fine so hopefully I'm good.
After the reset procedure my idle is smoother than ever.
Thanks guys!

Glad you got it resolved but I sure wouldn't let these guys near my vehicle again. Removing a battery for bench testing sounds very fishy since all you asked for was a tire rotation.