charging issues

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73AbodEE said:
everything is working great, i have a steady 14v at the new volt gauge, the best part is that it does not fluctuate, and my heater and signals/lights work better than they ever have. thanks again for the help!
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Good,...er....I mean GREAT!! what did you do, finally?
 
i went through everything that you suggested, and the info that the links gave me. the battery charge was down, and the VR was not the best. i bypassed the bulkhead and re wired the ALT all to the relay w/ new fusible links, and now it is holding a steady 14v while running and i have 12.8v at the battery while the car is off. i ran the RPMs up and the charge runs up to 14.2v so i think its good there. i still have to plug the cluster back up, and hook the tach up, but i should be OK. the new volt gauge is hooked to a switched 12v source at the fuse box and a good ground. i am going out to hook up the cluster and re check all my voltages and i will post them later to get an opinion as to whether or not all is well....what is strange is that after i unhooked the electric choke, and switched out the EI box and the MSD for a stock coil, i have a very slight low RPM miss, but that could be a plug or something
 
Since you have the cluster out, you should take a REAL hard look at it. Here is some of the stuff that was wrong with my 67:

Many of the harness to cluster pins were broke, loose, corroded, a common problem. So many of mine were broken, I opted down to Radio Shack and bought a pair of "Molex" type connectors, and soldered short jumper wires about a foot long to the PC board in place of the pins, and connected the Molex connectors there

Inspect those pins, clean 'em, and if any are loose solder them to the board.

The temp/ fuel gauges are held to the board electrically and mechanically by nuts. Replace those nuts, and put star washers under 'em

The socket for the gauges voltage limiter has brass fingers in the board. On mine, these were not making good contact with the board traces. I soldered mine to the board. A better way would be to solder very short wires to the brass fingers, and then in turn solder the jumpers to the board.

Loosen/ tighten the screws mounting the board to the cluster casting. This is the ground path. Also, pick one good accessable screw, and put about a 1 foot wire under it with a ring, and drill a hole in the column support behind the dash, bolt the other end of the wire to the column support with star washers

Inspect and clean the pc board around all the lamp sockets. Sometimes the copper gets dull and corroded, sometimes it becomes eroded.

Inspect and replace bad lamp sockets. Sometimes, just bending the contact fingers on the sockets out some helps

Make sure your limiter is OK, or replace it, preferably with an electronic one.

'S all I can think of fer now
 
i cleaned the pin connector and every gauge contact. i re grounded the column.i have (running) 14.2v at the battery,and 14.3v alternator stud. i have 13.8 at the volt gauge at RPMs less than 700, and 14v solid at any RPM above 700. i have .000 neg bat to VR case and .26v from the field to the + bat with the key on.i have 12.6v across the battery (engine off).i hope this will run good the way it is. honestly, it seems like everything is working. does all this sound ok?
 
73AbodEE said:
i cleaned the pin connector and every gauge contact. i re grounded the column.i have (running) 14.2v at the battery,and 14.3v alternator stud. i have 13.8 at the volt gauge at RPMs less than 700, and 14v solid at any RPM above 700. i have .000 neg bat to VR case and .26v from the field to the + bat with the key on.i have 12.6v across the battery (engine off).i hope this will run good the way it is. honestly, it seems like everything is working. does all this sound ok?
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No, it's not ok, it's.......!!! EXCELLENT !!!
 
:cheers:thanks guys ,couldnt have done it without your help, i didnt forget the thanks button! for any one else out there dealing with this , 67Dart273 ,bohica2xo ,RedFish, green1, john27pa all know EXACTLY what they are talking about, LISTEN TO THEM !!
 
Thank you all for a great helping thread.
An A grade help tec thread to remember and will be used for many years
 
If I can jump this thread, 74 Dart, bat. in trunk, two post kill switch, stock elec. dist, older msd-6 box, elec. fan and elec fuel pump. I replaced the volt reg. when I first got the car because of excessive voltage. The car has sat for over a year since then. I have put in a new agm battery, checked voltage 12.3 volts at the bat lug on the alt. Had the alt tested, only making 10 volts. Put in a reman alt. still only 12.3 volts and no change when I raise the engine rpm. I put the battery on a slow charge and it is up to 13.5 volts. The P.O. has bypased the amp gauge by splicing the wires together and run a jumper wire to the starter relay. No fusible links in sight. The wires through the bulkhead look sketchy. I've done the madelectric conversion on my R/T, but it doesn't have a roll cage or valve cover 1 inch from the bulkhead connector. I'm going to have to get a good night's sleep and find some patience for this job. Anything else that might cause this? I don't want to be the guy whose car won't start in the staging lanes, again.
 
I really recommend you start your own thread. Be happy to help you
 
70net440 said:
The P.O. has bypased the amp gauge by splicing the wires together and run a jumper wire to the starter relay. No fusible links in sight. The wires through the bulkhead look sketchy.
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every connection to the starter relay has to have an appropriate fusible link. you should never chance a short . ever since i did this work, my car has been running flawless. and i drive this car everyday........:cheers:
 
73AbodEE said:
just so i understand... where exactly do the wires originate from to the gauge?
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Just ran across this post and noticed nobody answered this question. The ammeter is directly in series with the battery and the only path to the battery. It measures all current flow in or out of the battery. That is ideal and requires a few caveats:

1. It does not measure starter current. That comes straight off the battery, as does current for the starter relay.
2. It doesn't measure horn current. The horn relay is powered directly from the battery.

Chrysler rightly figured that nobody cared about monitoring the current draws during the brief intervals that the starter and horn are used, the starter current is much too high to measure (>200 A?), and measuring them would require routing more wires in and out of the firewall.

Finally, for anybody who will ever need to diagnose an electrical problem in their car or home (i.e. everybody) - get a multimeter. How many posts have we read where the OP is flying blind? A multimeter costs $0.00 at Harbor Freight with a coupon. If you really want to splurge, buy a $15 voltmeter you plug in the cigarette lighter. I use one in all my newer cars since they have no electrical monitors. Check Amazon.
 
still running great after 7 months, charging the way it should and everything working normal.

i recently had a problem develop. i would turn the key and it would not fire until the key was on its way back to the start position. i would crank it a few times , then it would start. it gradually got worse until it would not start at all. i pulled the ECU box off, stuck a new one on there, it fired and ran immediately. then a couple days later, it happened again. im thinking WTH? i pulled the ECU off, took a flap disc to the box mounting tabs and the fender apron where the ECU mounts and sanded all the surfaces to bare metal. i re-mounted the box, it has been working flawlessly for 2 weeks now.
 
Gotta have GOOD grounds, 'specially the V.R. case and the E.C.U. case. Which you just discovered for yourself. Thanks for a great thread!
 
73AbodEE said:
still running great after 7 months, charging the way it should and everything working normal.

i recently had a problem develop. i would turn the key and it would not fire until the key was on its way back to the start position. i would crank it a few times , then it would start. it gradually got worse until it would not start at all. i pulled the ECU box off, stuck a new one on there, it fired and ran immediately. then a couple days later, it happened again. im thinking WTH? i pulled the ECU off, took a flap disc to the box mounting tabs and the fender apron where the ECU mounts and sanded all the surfaces to bare metal. i re-mounted the box, it has been working flawlessly for 2 weeks now.
Click to expand...

I cleaned the paint off the E.C.U. and its mounting ares on the inner fender and used nuts and bolts to mount it, so I could snug it down "gutentight". But before mounting the box, I spread some ordinary wheel bearing grease on the bare metal, THEN tightened the stainless bolt, lock washer and nut as tight as an 8" ratchet could make them. Cleaned up the squeezed out grease so it would look pretty, and don't expect grounding issues with my E.C.U. for a loooong time!

GOTTA have good grounds!

ATB

BC
 
73AbodEE said:
still running great after 7 months, charging the way it should and everything working normal.

i recently had a problem develop. i would turn the key and it would not fire until the key was on its way back to the start position. i would crank it a few times , then it would start. it gradually got worse until it would not start at all. i pulled the ECU box off, stuck a new one on there, it fired and ran immediately. then a couple days later, it happened again. im thinking WTH? i pulled the ECU off, took a flap disc to the box mounting tabs and the fender apron where the ECU mounts and sanded all the surfaces to bare metal. i re-mounted the box, it has been working flawlessly for 2 weeks now.
Click to expand...

after this episode ^^ i converted everything to HEI and ditched the ballast , ECU and factory coil. i could NOT be MORE PLEASED !!






11 months later and STILL working perfect. i have not touched anything other than installing the HEI ignition

another *bump*
 

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hey
I needed to check a few things behind the instrument cluster, so removed
it, fixed the wiper mechinism, then cleaned all the circuit board on the cluster.
replaced all bulbs, tighted all nuts, made new gasket to rest the amp nuts on
the installed the wires and tighten them tight... not over tight.
reinstalled the instrument cluster, started the car, amp guage read 40+
checed the battery while car was running, 18 + volts...
Turn off car, battery 13.7 volts..
these are not the same reading before I did any work on the car.
I've let the car sit at idle for about 5 min, no smoke\fire, took a small
drive around the nieghborhood, nothing wrong..
no smoke, no fire, but the amp reads high,
all connection from or to the battery are tight
 
In looking at your pictures. Makes me curious. My Alternator wires are backwards from yours. My Green wire is at 12:00 position and blue at 2:00. 67dart273 does say these could have been switched. I am searching for a diagram now, but all my books are black and white photos.
 
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