69 Dart GTS 383 4 Speed Completely Original

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Thanks for posted up some pic's!

Looks like you a great ride there enjoy it and best of luck with it!!
 
Awesome car, I too am jealous! I agree with the advice already posted about your alternator. My method of troubleshooting would be;

#1 - swap in a known good alternator or have yours tested
#2 - replace voltage reg with a kn own good, or quality new one
#3 - bulkhead connector - you should inspect and clean this regardless

Good luck with it.....if you want your money back out of it just let any one of us know, LOL
 
d55dave said:
Awesome car, I too am jealous! I agree with the advice already posted about your alternator. My method of troubleshooting would be;

#1 - swap in a known good alternator or have yours tested
#2 - replace voltage reg with a kn own good, or quality new one
#3 - bulkhead connector - you should inspect and clean this regardless

Good luck with it.....if you want your money back out of it just let any one of us know, LOL
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Yep. Let's throw parts and money at it until.........we get tired of throwing parts at it, and run out of money.
 
67Dart273 said:
Yep. Let's throw parts and money at it until.........we get tired of throwing parts at it, and run out of money.
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I am not suggesting to throw money at it, I am suggesting to troubleshoot and verify what the problem is before proceeding. I am sorry if I gave anyone a different impression. A lot of the rebuilt alternators that are out there now are crap, and generally most mopar guys have a stash of, or know someone with a stash of "known" good parts.

On the contrary, I am suggesting, as others have, the steps to economically find the problem.

Good luck with the troubleshooting!
 
To everyone who has provided ideas to troubleshoot this problem I greatly appreciate it. I will try all of the suggestions and see where it leads me. I'll be posting my results and i'm sure asking for more advice. Thanks again and I'll keep you all posted on the results.
 
Joe Tork said:
I'm in Greensburg.
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Well that is clear across the state and a 4 hour ride so I guess I won't be coming right over to help you out....Man, that car looks clean....For 2600?? Wow, did you have a mask on and holding a gun? Because you stole that....Amazing....that is easily a 10K car just the way it sits now....
 
Wow that car is saweet, the guy who ordered that had one thing on his mind, stripe delete sleeper man that car probably put a hurting on some big block high dollar muscle back in the day!!
 
67Dart273 said:
You need to...........

Download a free factory manual, here

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?p=1970088617

and more manuals and other stuff here

http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=31

Read the manual, section 8 about alternators. We can step you through some simplified tests

PLEASE READ this article. You don't have to DO this mod, just read the article

http://www.madelectrical.com/electrical-tech.shtml

It does a couple of things for you. First, it points out the pitfalls and the whys of the wiring in these old girls Second, there's a simplified diagram on that page which shows a good overview of the major electrical distribution in these cars

THINGS to watch for. As I said, we can step you through

Can you post the part no and better yet a photo of the newest alternator you have? The rebuilders of late "play games." Here's the thing. THERE ARE three or four major "big splits" in the types of alternators that would fit and be made to work--------without mechanical alterations------on your car

They are............

1......First year up through 69 alternator which has a single field connection, and one grounded brush

2.....1970---73? so called "round back" with isolated field, that is, TWO insulated brushes.

3.....1969 /earlier CONVERTED to insulated brush by the cheap rebuilders

4......73? and later so called "square back" with isolated brushes.

Your car has the "early" style regulator that is one insulated brush holder. You can use the LATER alternators (1970/ later) by grounding either brush and hooking up to yours as per normal

================================

The problems..........................

you might have inadvertently gotten an isolated field unit, either original or rebuilder converted, meaning one brush still needs to be grounded to work

you might have a defective rebuilt alternator, not uncommon

you might have yet another defective regulator, not uncommon with today's "Chineseo" junk


VERY FIRST THING TO TRY

First, buy yourself some tools if you do not have them. Buy a bag or two of Radio Shack test clip leads. Buy a digital multimeter. Everybody sells these nowadays, parts stores, Sears, Lowes, etc

But a 12V test lamp and a spark tester gap from the parts store.

Unhook the green field wire at the alternator. Hook a clip lead from the big alternator stud to the field terminal on the alternator. BE CAREFUL. That big stud is HOT and IS NOT FUSED.

In subdued light, you should see a small spark. Start the engine, bring up RPM. The ammeter should show charge, more as RPM comes up.

Post back with this result
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I am sorry to all the folks that have posted help on this topic that it has taken me this long to try anything out. I have been extremely busy with travel for work since the original post and haven't had any time to mess with this car until today.

I have posted pics of the alternator as requested and I believe that it is the correct type for 69 with a single field connection and a grounded brush. The only difference from the original appears to be that it is a double pulley. It is a USA Industries model #7001 i believe is the part number.

I have also tried as suggested unhooking the green field wire and connecting a lead from the stud to the field terminal. When i do this with the car running it registers a charge and as rpm is increased it goes all the way up to the C on the ammeter from about half way between the middle and the C. When I turn the lights on it still behaves the same way and doesn't show any discharge.

When hooked up correctly the ammeter shows a charge for a few minutes then starts acting erratically and goes from full charge to full discharge and everywhere in between. Eventually it goes to a slight discharge and if you turn on the light it shows it discharging even more at idle. If you bring up the rpm the ammeter shows that it isn't discharging as much but it never goes to the charge side of gauge.

I have unplugged and inspected all of the bulkhead connections and cleaned them up with a wire brush. They didn't look to bad to start with but this was something that others had also suggested.

I have inspected all of the grounds and couldn't see anything obvious from there. The ground wire from the block to the firewall had some cracked and split insulation but the wire was good and i checked it for continuity and it made a good circuit.

Not sure what else to do from here. Hoping for some more guidance. I'm pretty clueless when it comes to electrical issues.
 

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Since my last post I have taken the car for a short drive. Once it's warmed up and driving the ammeter shows a "normal" charge while driving and the rpm's are up. When it's at idol it shows a slight discharge. As soon as I turn on the lights or the heater blower it immediately goes to discharge and doesn't charge whether its at idol or driving at higher rpm. Could it just be that cheap China made voltage regulator?
 
Did that dart come from Ohio? Was the engine knocking when you bought it?
 
Joe Tork said:
Since my last post I have taken the car for a short drive. Once it's warmed up and driving the ammeter shows a "normal" charge while driving and the rpm's are up. When it's at idol it shows a slight discharge. As soon as I turn on the lights or the heater blower it immediately goes to discharge and doesn't charge whether its at idol or driving at higher rpm. Could it just be that cheap China made voltage regulator?
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I think you bought a pile with electrical issues..... You better sell it to me! LOL
 
Does it ever show a substantial charge? EG you start it up, so the battery has been "used" a bit, with nothing on, it should jump over to charge "someplace" and taper back to the middle as the battery comes up.

At this point it's hard to say.

1...Go back to the first. Take a jumper wire, and unhook the green field wire at the alternator. Hook from the alternator field over to the alternator output stud. Run it "carefully" that is don't get crazy with the throttle. The more RPM, the more it should charge. It might not 'keep up' that is, might not show a positive charge at low RPM, idle, but "just above" curb idle, IE "fast idle" it should keep up with heater and lights in the "positive zone."

If it does NOT, hook your voltmeter to the battery, run it with lights and heater, and gently bring up RPM. At a speed "about" low cruise, IE 30-35 in high gear simulated, read battery voltage and post back

Next, move your voltmeter over to the alternator output stud and do the same thing. Post that reading.

Finally, disconnect the jumper wire, and hook the green back up "normal," and take a reading under these same conditions at the battery.

I'm thinking............

Either the alternator is actually not outputting the full amount, meaning it's defective,

Or there's a real bad connection in the charging wire between the alternator stud, through the harness, and to the battery.
 
67Dart273 said:
Does it ever show a substantial charge? EG you start it up, so the battery has been "used" a bit, with nothing on, it should jump over to charge "someplace" and taper back to the middle as the battery comes up.

At this point it's hard to say.

1...Go back to the first. Take a jumper wire, and unhook the green field wire at the alternator. Hook from the alternator field over to the alternator output stud. Run it "carefully" that is don't get crazy with the throttle. The more RPM, the more it should charge. It might not 'keep up' that is, might not show a positive charge at low RPM, idle, but "just above" curb idle, IE "fast idle" it should keep up with heater and lights in the "positive zone."

If it does NOT, hook your voltmeter to the battery, run it with lights and heater, and gently bring up RPM. At a speed "about" low cruise, IE 30-35 in high gear simulated, read battery voltage and post back

Next, move your voltmeter over to the alternator output stud and do the same thing. Post that reading.

Finally, disconnect the jumper wire, and hook the green back up "normal," and take a reading under these same conditions at the battery.

I'm thinking............

Either the alternator is actually not outputting the full amount, meaning it's defective,

Or there's a real bad connection in the charging wire between the alternator stud, through the harness, and to the battery.
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It does show a substantial charge when you first start it up for a short time. It then drops down to a slight discharge at idol then will shoe a slight charge as rpm is brought up. As soon as you turn on the lights or heater it goes to dischare and no amount of rpm will bring it to charge. I'll try the thing you suggest after i get home from work and report the results.
 
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