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  #1  
Old 03-07-2006, 03:19 AM
1fastsrt 1fastsrt is offline
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Default Electrical prob...

The other day my wifes car wouldnt start. Pulled battery and got it checked, was working good. Found a small single green wire hooked to the alternator had come out of its connector end, recrimped it in and alternator charges now. For some reason now, when the car is at idle the alternator gauge reads right in the middle like its supposed to but as soon as you give it any gas it goes all the way to the right and the whole time while driving. For some reason she changed out the ballast resistor, has 4 wires on it mounted on the firewall. Could the wires be crossed and causing this? Also the headlights quit working while she was driving to work, the the inside dome light, followed by the wipers. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Update:
Now the car will do nothing when you turn the ignition key to the start position.Swapped with a fully charged battery and still nothing. You can jump it when arcing the starter relay and it will turn over but will not start because the coil is not firing. There is no power going to the coil when attempting to start. Think the ignition box could have gotten fried with the alternator over charging the system, is there any way to check the ignition box? Im getting frustrated and out of things to check/replace.
Replaced the alternator, battery is good, voltage regulator, and starter relay. Also have check the wiring for shorts with no luck. PLEASE HELP!!! Could a bad starter solenoid cause this?
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  #2  
Old 03-07-2006, 05:13 AM
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cageman cageman is offline
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sounds to me you have a bad ground somewhere, could be anywhere.
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  #3  
Old 03-07-2006, 03:33 PM
dusterrcr dusterrcr is offline
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Regulator could be bad.Could be charging "wide open" Were the lights TOO bright? Does the battery get really hot,or swelling up?
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  #4  
Old 03-08-2006, 12:50 AM
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pishta pishta is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dusterrcr
Regulator could be bad.Could be charging "wide open" Were the lights TOO bright? Does the battery get really hot,or swelling up?
that is what I was thinking. If the alternator is at full boogie, you are putting out some juice and maybe popping bulbs. That green wire could be grounded somewhere upstream. this is applicable to the older mechanical regulator and , they moved the "control" voltage to the negative side on the newer isolated field (sometimes incorrectly called dual field) so a simple short would not cause the alternator to "melt down". You can open an old points type regulator and clean the points with a point file, get the point? that green wire goes all the way back to the regulator and may be grounded somewhere. The other field contact should be grounded to the case of the alternator.
The electronic will cycle the ground, I'd check the electronic regulator if equipped, a spare is cheap to keep (along with an ECU and a few alligator clipped wire pieces)
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Old 03-08-2006, 02:47 AM
1fastsrt 1fastsrt is offline
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I was thinking regulator myself. Going to go pick one up tomorrow and see if thats it. Also you mentioned the battery swelling, today I was looking around to see if any wires were loose and noticed the cap on top of the battery to check your water level was off. Asked the wife if she had taken it off for some reason and she didnt know what I was talking about. If it was indeed swelling could it have caused this to pop off?
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Old 03-08-2006, 01:45 PM
1fastsrt 1fastsrt is offline
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Changed the regulator today with no success. I can hear the water in the battery bubbling. Any other ideas where to go from hear? Could it be a bad alternator?
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  #7  
Old 03-08-2006, 06:12 PM
John Kunkel John Kunkel is offline
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On the alternator there are two field wires, the blue one supplies battery voltage to one field and the green one supplies a variable ground from the voltage regulator; if the green wire is shorted to ground anywhere between the alternator and the regulator the alternator will go to full charge. This is why you didn't notice a problem while the green wire was disconnected.

A common place for the wire to short is where it runs down the valve cover but check its entire length.
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  #8  
Old 03-08-2006, 11:28 PM
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ttraut@unlockit ttraut@unlockit is offline
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Default Try this

From experience with my 69 RR, I've found that rebuilt alternators are a crap shoot and you may got through several before finding one that works. Also from what I read, today's alternators are suited for maintaining a battery's charge, NOT for charging a dead battery; supposedly charging a battery can cause some alternator to fail quickly (others might tell me I'm full of crap and they'd be right, but that's my story!)

What I would suggest is 1) follow John's advice in checking the wire to the regulator, and 2) get a rebuilt altenator from your local supplier (they come with warranties) and have them do a field test to ensure the altenator works; I would also AT THE SAME TIME replace the battery with a new one (also with a warranty).

If this doesn't fix your problem and if either (or both) the altenator or battery go bad, you can get a free replacement.

Hope this helps.

Terry
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  #9  
Old 03-09-2006, 12:12 AM
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ehostler ehostler is offline
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With the wire disconnected, the system does not charge. With the wire connected, it goes into full charge. That rules out the alt as the problem. That wire is most likely grounding out somewhere and causing the problem.
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  #10  
Old 03-09-2006, 04:04 PM
1fastsrt 1fastsrt is offline
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I took the alternator and got it tested and they said it was bad...replaced it and it worked. Only thing unusual is that when I first crank it up it would still peg out on the gauge and then go back to the middle, but while driving it would stay in the middle of the gauge all the time. When I went to start it up this morning it does nothing, battery is totally dead. So im going to start checking the wires and hopefully Ill find something. Thanks for all the help guys.
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  #11  
Old 03-09-2006, 04:36 PM
dusterrcr dusterrcr is offline
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Now go get your battery checked--You may have cooked it.
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  #12  
Old 03-09-2006, 04:43 PM
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ttraut@unlockit ttraut@unlockit is offline
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Default Welcome to Mopar hell

Okay, maybe it's not that bad, but troubleshooting electronics has been a pain for me. Find one thing bad and that'll lead to another.

My lifesaver was the Service Manual wiring diagram and my ohmmeter.

If I recall, your alternator should be putting out 14.5 volts (please correct me if I'm wrong here).

Did you have the battery tested? You may want to.

Also, I'll stick by my advice: replace both the alternator and battery at the same time and avoid having a bad battery ruin a good alternator and then a bad alternator ruining a good alternator. (Ed, is this good advice or is it just something that was a coincidence in my situation? I went through three alternators and two batteries before my problem disappeared.)

Terry (not too proud to say "I'm not sure" and not too quiet to keep my mouth shut)
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Old 03-13-2006, 07:28 PM
1fastsrt 1fastsrt is offline
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Still need help...updated progress or lack of in first post.
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  #14  
Old 03-14-2006, 05:17 PM
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Clean conections at the bulkhead connector.
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  #15  
Old 03-14-2006, 05:20 PM
John Kunkel John Kunkel is offline
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You need to remove one battery cable and hook a milliamp meter between the cable and the fully charged battery post. With everything shut off you should see no more than 20 milliamps depending on the equipment installed.

If there is a large parasitic draw the battery will discharge while sitting and this explains the high ammeter reading on initial startup and the dead battery overnight.

If there is no major parasitic draw and the battery still goes dead the battery is shot.
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  #16  
Old 03-15-2006, 01:26 AM
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pishta pishta is offline
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Unless it is a deep cycle battery, one good drain (until you cant tick the starter) will permanently damage the battery, itll never atain its former glory.
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  #17  
Old 03-15-2006, 06:34 AM
1fastsrt 1fastsrt is offline
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Ill check the firewall connections in the afternoon. Just got off of work and its 4 in the morning. I have previously swapped the battery out with a known fully charged one and still does nothing.
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  #18  
Old 03-15-2006, 06:24 PM
1fastsrt 1fastsrt is offline
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cry2

With a fully charged battery installed...car off, headlights do not come on, brake lights, things that should with the car not even running...so what is not letting power go through the system? Think I might have to take her somewhere to figure this one out
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  #19  
Old 03-16-2006, 12:58 AM
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pishta pishta is offline
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horn work? that is a straight feed off the + battery feed from the starter relay common terminal. It also goes straight to the ammeter and then goes to the accessory circuit breaker. If you have no horn, you may have a bad ground...
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  #20  
Old 03-16-2006, 07:02 AM
1fastsrt 1fastsrt is offline
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Nope, horn does not work either...so I should be looking for a bad ground on the battery cables themselves or somewhere else?
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  #21  
Old 03-16-2006, 08:55 AM
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71_DEPUTY 71_DEPUTY is offline
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check the ground cable between the battery and the block, and the battery to the rad support.

also if it is there- braided strap wire from the rear of the block to the firewall- if none- then get one and put it on.
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  #22  
Old 03-16-2006, 04:11 PM
John Kunkel John Kunkel is offline
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Check the fusible link if so equipped, it is a wire with a molded-in flag between the starter relay and the bulkhead connector.
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  #23  
Old 03-16-2006, 09:40 PM
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Did you check your battery clamps? is it possible the wire has coroded inside where it connects to the clamp?

Julian
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  #24  
Old 03-16-2006, 09:45 PM
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If you have a voltmeter (portable):
connect your battery
test voltage at the terminals
test voltage again using clamps & not terminals
now check voltage with (tester) red on 12v terminal & (tester) ground on frame/block end of battery ground wire.
now check voltage with (tester) red on 12v terminal & (tester) ground on engine block (clean metal)

All these voltages should be equal. If they aren't it should help point you towards your problem


Julian
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  #25  
Old 03-17-2006, 02:27 AM
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pishta pishta is offline
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clean your battery posts. I got jack when I tried to start my Suburban one morning, no buzzer, no dome light, no clock on radio! Jerked the cables around and everything lit up. Tried to start it and all went black again, tightened the cables real good (side post battery, top post ones are worse) and all was well.
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  #26  
Old 03-17-2006, 07:22 PM
1fastsrt 1fastsrt is offline
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Found the battery cable going from the battery to the starter had about half of the wires broken. Replaced both of the battery cables but still have no power If the fuxe box was burnt up would it cause this?
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  #27  
Old 03-18-2006, 12:07 PM
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I would look toward the fusible link on the firewall, engine side. It has a rubber coating on it and a little flag, it burns through if there is a bad short somewhere and needs to be replaced. What year car again?
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