Voltage regulator on 67 Dart GT.

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Vern&laurie

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Hey fellow mopar people, I've spent a good portion of the past winter working on our 67 dart GT,primarily the wiring. It's been somewhat of a nightmare. The car has been fitted with a 440/4spd, fenderwell headers and looks killer OLD SCHOOL. I've gone thru the wiring under the dash and it looks to be patched more times than I would have liked. Under the hood wiring is very sketchy as well, changed over to electronic ignition but not a very neat and tidy job done by previous owner. My problem is this: I can have the park lights on and have signals, flashers and brake lights all working but as soon as I start the car and try driving, ALL my bulbs burn out except for the headlights. It seems as though they're getting too much voltage??? I wasn't able to see my volt gauge in time when the bulbs blew but it showed 14.5 when I first started it. I've checked and replaced all my grounds on the car but I am running out of ideas. I would really appreciate any help at all. I know I should probably just order a whole new harness for the car but was hoping to just fix what's there to get me thru this summer. Thanks a lot to anyone that can help.
 
What does it have for a regulator? If it's the old mechanical kind, it may have stuck (welded) the contacts. Photo would help. When you buy a replacement, most of them now may look similar, but are really solid state electronic inside
 
When you say all the bulbs burn out, for the rear lights, do the turn signals still work after you shut off the car and is it just the tailights that burn out or what? With the headlight switch on, the tailights could burn out with very excessive voltage, but the rear turn indicators should not burn out unless you engage both sides. This question is to try to figure out if you have some shorts in the harness, or just a bad regulation situation that is seriously overvoltaging the system.

BTW, are you disconnecting the battery while the engine is running (as a test)? That can cause a serious overvoltage in the system.
 
nm9stheham said:
When you say all the bulbs burn out, for the rear lights, do the turn signals still work after you shut off the car and is it just the tailights that burn out or what? With the headlight switch on, the tailights could burn out with very excessive voltage, but the rear turn indicators should not burn out unless you engage both sides. This question is to try to figure out if you have some shorts in the harness, or just a bad regulation situation that is seriously overvoltaging the system.

BTW, are you disconnecting the battery while the engine is running (as a test)? That can cause a serious overvoltage in the system.
Click to expand...

No, I made sure the cables were all tight and even added another ground cable to the other frame rail.Battery is located in the trunk as well. I replaced the voltage regulator with a new one,took the car for a drive yesterday and again,only the brake and signal elements have both burnt out on the rear. Tail lights still work. Could it be the brake light switch that is shorting out possibly?
 
A short will not blow out bulbs. A short will, by definition, bypass the load (bulb). You need to test the voltages with a digital voltmeter. The voltage regulator needs to see accurate system voltages to control the alternator properly.

With the key on and engine running at idle, what is the voltage on the dark blue wire at the voltage regulator with the meter ground lead on the battery negative post?

What is the voltage at 2000 rpm?

What is the voltage with the negative meter lead on the regulator case under each of those conditions?

If you can't test it, you can't fix it. Post the results and somebody will offer advice.
 
I've been following this and have almost the same problem just no light issue. I check the voltages and I have: Batt to Blue wire @ idle 13.50/70
2000 14.6
Case to Blue: idle 13.50/70
2000 14.6
Are these normal readings? I was using a squareback with the vr706 and had all kinds of charging issues- batt over charging, alt quit after the gauge started fluttering, no charging.
I have replaced the alt with the original style and these are my current readings. This is also on a 67 dart with no extra electronics added and a non ac car if that matters. Things seem back to normal with the original style alt back on.
 
14.6 is leaning towards but not bad. I would "call it good" especially if you are not getting excessive gassing and splatter out of the battery, or it's not "using water"
 
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