Charging Issues,

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RocketeerSr

RocketeerSr

RoceteerSr
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I have a 63 Dart that seems to have a charging issue. When driving down the freeway or other higher RPM's situations, my charging gauge in the dash is pegged all the way to the right. We tested in the shop and it is getting 17volts. I put in a new voltage regulator yesterday and no change. Any thoughts? Thanx
 

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I'm assuming that you have a 1 wire alternator. disconnect the field wire (the small slide on wire) and see if the charging goes away. if it does then I would think that the voltage regulator is at fault. additionally make sure the voltage regulator is grounded properly and that the battery connections are clean and tight. good luck
 
Thanx, I will give it a try tonight. What is the chances that my new regulator is bad as well. I was puzzled that the new one did not work any better.
 
RocketeerSr said:
Thanx, I will give it a try tonight. What is the chances that my new regulator is bad as well. I was puzzled that the new one did not work any better.
Click to expand...

There's always a chance that the new regulator is bad. My background is electronics and I've seen plenty of brand new electronic parts that were bad right out of the box. I would think that is more likely that you're dealing with a ground problem on the regulator.
 
I pulled the field wire and no charge.

How do I ensure the ground is good? Two bolts into the firewall holding the mount and then the ground wire to the alternator.

We took the cover off of the new regulator and it did not appear that the "points" arm was moving when the key was turned on or when starting. Not sure if that means anything. We tried manually closing the "points" in the box, when we did that there was no charge at all.

What is a 1 wire alternator?

Thanx for responding and helping me out, much appreciated. I am not electrically inclined. More like declined.
 
Hi,

Okay, it seems the alternator is alright and it is a regulator issue. Either the new regulator is defective or it is not grounded. Bad grounding is quite common. You have 50 year-old half stripped out, rusty sheet metal mounting screws on many old cars. Make sure the metal on the firewall under the regulator mountings is clean and shiny. Also, make sure the screws can be tightened well and use an internal or external tooth lock washer under each screw head. That should take care of the ground issue. If it still doesn't work the regulator is likely defective. With today's quality level on new parts it happens more than you would think.

Good luck and let us know how things go.
 
Pete in NH said:
Hi,

Okay, it seems the alternator is alright and it is a regulator issue. Either the new regulator is defective or it is not grounded. Bad grounding is quite common. You have 50 year-old half stripped out, rusty sheet metal mounting screws on many old cars. Make sure the metal on the firewall under the regulator mountings is clean and shiny. Also, make sure the screws can be tightened well and use an internal or external tooth lock washer under each screw head. That should take care of the ground issue. If it still doesn't work the regulator is likely defective. With today's quality level on new parts it happens more than you would think.

X2 Pete is right on about this. Cleaning the ground connections is free, try that first. Let us know how it works out.

Glenn
Click to expand...
 
tried an Regulator that is supposed to keep it at around 14 volts constant and still the same problem. Took alternator to Auto Zone and it tests fine. cleaned fire wall and mounts to get better ground still no bueno.

3 regulators and same problem. UGH getting very frustrated. It has to be something simple that we are missing at this end. I appreciate all the advice, if you have any other ideas they are greatly appreciated.

Jim
 
Hi,

I take it you have a voltmeter you are using. If so, measure the voltage on the green field wire to ground and let us know what that reading is. Also, a picture of the regulator you have and the back of the alternator would be helpful in understanding what you have on your car.
 
Can you post a picture of the back of the alternator in your car? Without knowing if you have the older or newer alternator type, all the help will be just guessing. The different vintage of alternator types requires a different regulator.

Is this alternator new?

Look on the back of the alternator and see if there is just 1 single small terminal for the green field wire or if there are 2 small field terminals. (These will be in addition to the large output wire.) The original for your year car should be 1 field terminal (which is probably what was meant by '1 wire alternator'.... '1field wire'). The reason to check is that these cars get the alternator types swapped sometimes; you can't count on the parts houses to get it right.
 
All right. Got it fixed. Maybe I should have mentioned it but I did not see the correlation. I put in a Pertronix electronic points and a Pertronix 3 ohm coil. We put in a new 1.8 ohm resistor. The instructions with the coil said the resistor was not required. Not sure what the correlation is, but we bypassed the resistor and now it is fine. It's fixed but can anyone tell me why?

Thanx again for all your help. I am not sure how to add a thank you on your profiles
 
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