Battery, headlights and amp meter

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I just want to take s moment and say thank you to Pawned for his help this morning.
 
Glad to hear it is working. Welcome to the world of old car wiring! You have plenty of company....nice of Pawned to help you.
 
Yeah, come to find out the alternator was never hooked up. The large black wire that's suppose to go to the battery, was burned through in the harness. So re-ran that wire. Re-ran the two field wires from the vr, since the wire broke in half during inspection today.

Now that the alternator is connected, it's putting 12.4 volts at the battery when running. I think I need to look at the battery/alternator wire as it runs inside to behind the dash of the car.
 
You are correct that you should wait to pull the dash until you come back. BTW, I know I did most of all the work, but you need to step in and do the work yourself.
I told you I enjoyed working on your car, but it is your car and you will not learn if I do it all. Nothing against you, but I tend to just do the work where you need to do it so you will learn what is where.
So, when you want to work on it, tell my to get out of your way :banghead:

Bring the books and schmatics back with you, because like I told you my documentation ends at 1971
 
bigboijc13 said:
Now that the alternator is connected, it's putting 12.4 volts at the battery when running. I think I need to look at the battery/alternator wire as it runs inside to behind the dash of the car.
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Is this 12.4 v at idle? What is the votlage at fast idle?
 
bigboijc13 said:
12.4 -12.7 at idle. Didn't get reading at fast idle under the hood yet.
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That is were we stopped as he needed to go. It did not matter the rpms the voltage was slightly over 12.5 We were able to turn the lights on and the voltage did not drop so it is compensating.
Like I told Bigboijc It is not fixed properly, but at least the battery is not being pulled down by load. So as he had to go, it was a good place to leave it.

Bigbojic will bring the car back here to work on it some more, when he can. I have the tools he needs and I do not mind him using them here. I am retired and my Duster is pretty much finished. Will keep you all informed
 
If the OP has a voltmeter, it will be good baseline info (and good experience) to get a reading at fast idle. That is the RPM where the alternaotr output can be seen to be in spec. But if the headlights on don't drop it, that is good. And, yeah..... it is a pretty obvious that the output being disconnected would cause the original issue!
 
nm9stheham said:
If the OP has a voltmeter, it will be good baseline info (and good experience) to get a reading at fast idle. That is the RPM where the alternaotr output can be seen to be in spec. But if the headlights on don't drop it, that is good. And, yeah..... it is a pretty obvious that the output being disconnected would cause the original issue!
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It is so much like my Duster (Natalie) was when I got it, it is surprising. The entire engine compartment needs the wires replaced.
We believe that there is something else going on that is holding the voltage down. Suspect removing the dash cluster will answer a lot of questions

We were hampered by time. His wife was texting him that she needed a ride somewhere
 
nm9stheham said:
Since you have been so helpful, we should rename you 'Redeemed'.... lol
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I have sent him a few PMs, emails and text messages, he has disappeared. I feel kind of slighted.

But on the subject of headlights, I pulled my dash a week ago to slightly tweek the fuel gauge. I had put it in the driveway to work on it, the weather was really nice.
I got sidetracked and did not finish the reassembly. So I had pulled the fuse (fusible link replacement), so no power got into the fuse box. To get it inside the garage, I hot-wired it and drove it up the driveway to the garage.
Odd thing I noticed the headlights were on. They should not have been, but they both popped off less than a second apart.
I just put it back together and found that the headlights are dead, but not the high beams. So I replaced the headlamps.
Not sure why but I do not care to know.
It is what I call my "stupid tax"
 
I'm having the same problem with a car I just bought for my daughter . I'm going to ground everything to the negative cable . I'm guessing and been advised that these cars need a solid ground !
 
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