HELP ME PLEASE, electrical

[oibrownskin]

Okay I am back. I have an electrical problem. I had the same problem with the car about a month ago. The battery got sucked dry because my alternator was "kaput". So I replaced the alternator with a brand new one (my car is a '73 swinger with a 318) and a new regulator. I left the ballast resistor in place as well as the battery (oooops might be it, but hold on). So at my friend's house I turn on car (not running, but key in on position) and turned on headlights, radio, hit brakes, and honked the horn and all worked well. WEnt to start car and the starter just clicks. Got it jump started and same symptoms as before, blinkers arent "blinking" just come on and stay on, lights are dim. BY the time I get home the headlights are virtually non-existant, and the car is starting to rumble like it is misfiring.

What do you think? here is what i think:
1) When battery died first time one or more cells could have been damaged. now these cells are "resistors" and not allowing battery to be charged fully when car is on, and charge gets smaller and smaller cause resistance increases. (like cell phone battery).
2) ballast resistor is kaput, on my '66 everything was dialed in and the resistor was bad and NOTHING worked until I replaced that part.
3) bad starter, but maybe not since a jump start got the car running.

i am at a loss, I am pissed off since I thought I fixed the same problem a month ago.

help me PLEASE!!!!!!
caesar

[Racin43]

Had the same problem with a 74 RR check the leads that go thru the amp gauge.if the are loose or the gauge is burnt the battery won't charge properly.

[lgorton]

could also be a bad ground connection, the starter draws alot more amps than the accesories and will click like a dead battery even if the batt. is fully charged. just a thought....good luck

[CandianWrangler]

The battery is probably creating 12 volts to run all the accesories but the amperage production to turn the starter (aka = CA - cranking amps) is toast. With insufficient amps the solenoid will enage (the clicks you here), but the starter motor will not be able to turn do to lack of power.

Replace the battery and then try again.

[dusterrcr]

There are a LOT of Crappy "Brand-New" starters and alt,s out there.Especially from Autozone. price and Competition seem to be driving the deal with little regard for quality.So make sure your new alt is indeed charging and your starter is good.I went through 3 starters from autozone a while back and never got a good one! When we buy this stuff we assume its good,then we waste time going through the whole cars elec system trying to find a problem that sometimes is not there. -Good Luck!

[sbfinne]

Is your pos battery cable original?Hook you meter across the starter and ck the voltage drop when you turn it over.If it drops below 9 volts you have resistance or a crap battery.
I agree with Dusterrcr...Always buy quality starters and Altn.
When you get it running with no heavy elec draw ck the voltage at the battery and it should read 14vdc indicating a nml charge.
Also ck the ammeter gauge connection especially at the crappy J-plug firewall connection.I had a dash fire due to that wire shorting out due to corrosion to ground and a unregulated alternator destroying my dash,battery.... One bad day on the way to the Nats.

[oibrownskin]

After testing everything it became clear that my alternator was pooped. However I think a bad battery caused this to be the case. When the battery was tested it had only about 140 cold cranking amps, vs 450 CCR for what it is rated at. The guy at the parts store said that when my power wire from alternator to battery blew up it most likely damaged the old alternator. This caused the battery to run the car for an extended period of time, sucking it down to nothing. I never replaced the battery after this occured, when I fixed the wire it solved the problem. ANyhow it blew a 2nd time and then I replaced the alternator and the voltage regulator, but still didnt replace the battery. The battery got run down to nothing on 2 seperate occasions. The guy at the store said that since the battery was damaged (and when it was tested it was crap) that it caused the system to think it needed charging constantly, which might have burned out the alternator, or it could have been a bad alternator to begin with who knows? But I got alternator replaced and bought a new battery (with more CCR and 18month warranty) so I will install and see how it goes for the next few months.

Thanks for all the input guys.

always helpful.

caesar

[440Ramcharger]

had the same issue that Racin43 had, loose connections on the back of the amp guage. Tightened them up and the guage started reading more of a swing in the charge direction. take the cluster out and tighten the connections (carefully, do not short the tool against anything metal)