Long lasting battery, no charge from Alternator

[mgm1986]

This past Saturday I spent the day driving around with the top down. Above 50, the top goes down (It was too cold but I was too stubborn to admit that to myself!)

Anyway, I drove about 150 or so miles without issue. Heater blower at full blast and radio on. The next morning I spent pulling out old, burnt bulbs and replacing them. All are now working except the four instrument panel bulbs and I suspect a grounding issue. After about an hour of messing with the bulbs I tried to start the car and she was dead. I figured I spent too long with the doors open and the lights on/off, etc. So I jump start the car and she fires right up. Within a couple minutes she dies again...hrm. Must not be charging correctly. Charged the battery full just to get her back in her covered spot.

So this weekend I intend to check voltage on the battery while the car is not running and while running, looking for 12v off and 13.5-14.5 while running. When I bought the car, the fuel and temp gauges worked fine but the ammeter didn't seem to move at all, just sits dead middle of the gauge.

How should the ammeter read when the car is off? Should it drop down all the way like the fuel and temp gauges? I suspect this gauge is the likely culprit if the alternator proves to be working (it looks newer).

 

[Wildaugust]

Sorry to hear that you're having electrical problems. They can be a real PITA sometimes.

The ammeter should just read in the center with the ignition turned "off". Even with the car running it will usually be in the center or very close to center, unless there's a heavy electrical load or the battery is discharged and the alternator is putting a strong charge into the battery to bring it back up.

Were all of those bulbs already burned out or did the car burn them all out the day you drove it?

 

[Mr C]

Is there corrosion around the grounding points on the voltage regulator? Almost every charging issue I've had involved the voltage regulator.

 

[mgm1986]

@Wildaugust - Thank you! It just sits in the middle of the road all the time, never moved from what I can tell. The bulbs were already burned out, although the instrument panel bulbs were fine, I replaced them and still no luck. I believe this is a grounding issue as I suspect they are grounded when they get pushed into the instrument panel holder, which is covered in surface rust.

@Mr C - I will check the grounding points for the voltage regulator and clean it up to see if that helps. I did have issues with the ballast resistor that when cleaned up went away.

Will check these things in a couple weeks when I get time and report back.

Thanks to both of you!

 

[mgm1986]

Okay, I had the alternator bench tested just to eliminate it from the equation. When on the car the alternator is putting out about 14.5v at idle. So I started pulling connectors and started cleaning them. What I found was a burnt connection in the power bulkhead which I am going to have to tack down what it powers. Either way I will need to replace the power bulkhead block.

Would someone please help guide me how to remove the power bulkhead on the firewall? I see four metal clips but no screws. Is it screwed in from the inside?

thanks!

 

[mgm1986]

Got the power block out of the bulkhead, easy as pie. But how the heck do you remove the wires from the harness?? Is there a special tool needed to remove the wire from the harness? I would like to redo all of them but I can't even get the darn wires out!!

thanks for any input.

 

[mgm1986]

I got the connectors out of both the male and female sides, took me a bit to figure out how they worked. Now I need to buy new connectors to replace a few that had cut/crimped wires.

i think I also need to do this upgrade to keep it from happening again. http://www.allpar.com/fix/alternator.html

Going to give it a go before I put it all back together and melt anything else!

 

[mgm1986]

I got the old power block out and replaced and everything hooked back up. I didn't do the alternator wire upgrade yet though so I am worried its gonna melt again if I don't get that done.

So it's now charging great, almost too great though, at 15.15 volts at the battery at idle without any lights or accessories on. Is this voltage to high? Should I be concerned?

Thanks!

 

[mgm1986]

After digging through my FSM and the world wide interweb I realize 15.15 is too high for constant voltage to the battery. I am going to attempt to adjust the mechanical voltage regulator as the FSM suggest and hope to get down to 14.5 at the battery.

Has anybody upgraded to an electronic or solid state voltage regulator? If so would you send me a part # or model you used?

 

[mgm1986]

I was able to adjust the voltage regulator and get down from 15.15 to 14.2-14.4 at the battery when warm. It took some time to get it right and it was worth it. I think this is one of the coolest things on the car, to be able to adjust something like that. Thanks all for the help!