boy do I have a doozy for ya...

IF YOU DONT WANT TO READ THE WHOLE STORY SKIP TO THE BOTTOM.

alright, everyone knows electrical issues can cause some pretty strange things to happen, but this is something I've never heard of.

okay, so I start the ol' scamp at my lady's house about 1/4 choke cause it's freakin freezing, after 5 or 10 minutes I roll out, hop on I-24 and head on home. about a mile and a half away from my exit she sounds sick. sounded like a miss or something, just put new plug wires on and they're my first ever set of angle boots so I'm thinkin maybe one has come off somehow. check them and number 3 cylinder felt different than the rest and I felt it click on the plug.

so gave it some throttle, nope. didn't change a thing. also noticed volt gauge staying at 12 volts even at throttle then dropping to 10-ish.

I check the dizzy, the battery, every bit of wire and connections I can get my hands to and still... nothing.

at this point the car just sounds PISSED OFF. I mean sputtering, bucking, shaking, backfiring. so I kill it.

now I see my lovely choke cable still pulled 1/4 out. push it in, start it up and boom. volt gage goes to 18 under throttle and no backfires misses sputters or nothing.
sounds like a dream, purring like a baby puss cat.


I know a lot are probably saying "duh, choke was pulled, too much gas, not enough air." well yes, but the volt gauge thing; I wanted to save the kicker for last, when I was going through the wiring under the hood, I came to the voltage regulator, and notice what I thought at first to be antifreeze below it. but no, I went to wipe it off and it was thick and sticky like tree sap or molasses, follow the trail and it appears that this mystery funk is being discharged from the voltage regulator.

-what is it?
-why did this happen?
-why did correcting the choke solve everything?
-why is it putting out 18 volts at throttle now? seems awful high for a 12v battery.

for those who skipped the long read, GREEN GOO COMING FROM INSIDE VOLTAGE REGULATOR. WHAT IN THE HECK IS IT?