I bought a 1984 D150 with a 318 from my friend. When I bought it I had no problems, but it was a buy the truck but I am keeping that tranny and carb.... Well after some work on it, I cannot get it to charge. I have replaced the alternator and battery while working on it, and when I finaly put it on the road I found out that it is not charging. Since then I have replaced the alternator "3 bench test said it was good and 1 said that it was bad so I changed it... it was under warranty" I have replaced the old voltage regulator. I checked the fuseable links and all of the wires. I have power to the main feed to/from the alternator, and the other two wires have power when the accessary is on.... but when it is running, it is steadly draining power. I have tryed swapping the two smaller wires on the alternator just incase I had them backwards... I need to fix this problem asap. Any help please?
Speed Dragon
03-20-2008, 01:06 PM
Bad amp gauge maybe? I think it won't run though if that's bad. Bad firewall connection maybe.
dukoD150
03-20-2008, 01:16 PM
anyway to bypass it
bherder
03-21-2008, 01:51 PM
Speed is probably right... Very common prob with our ol' Mopars...
The amp gauge circut is pretty weak (Although there are those who have never had a prob...)
Unless someone has done some slicing and dicing, you'll more than likely find this... (This is in a nutshell and keeping it simple) You have a wire (Should be 10 gauge) hooked to the 'BATT' connection on your alt. This feeds through the bulkhead connector on the firewall, then on the other side it feeds the electrical system (This is why everything still works ... In even older Mopars, EVERYTHING went through the ammeter first... So if you lost/cooked that, the WHOLE rig was dead...)) at a junction in the wiring under the dash. One of the connections of this junction then goes through the ammeter, back through the bulkhead connector and then feeds the positive side of the battery. This would be your charging circut. I'm pretty sure it's a fusable link. Anyway, if the bulkhead connector is dirty/burnt, the ammeter is cooked or the wiring to/from it is loose or cooked, or the fusable link is cooked... Everything could still run, BUT the battery won't charge. In some cases, if the wiring gets cooked (As in before it even makes it through the bulkhead connector) EVERYTHING will be deader n' a doornail...
When you run the engine, does the ammeter do anything?
A quick simple fix to this is: disconnect the wiring to the ammeter (Pull the gauge cluster, undo the wires and wrap the ends with electric tape, so as not to short anything out) and then run a new wire from the 'BATT' connection on the alt, right to the positive connection on the battery. (I'd use at least 8 guage wire... I've done this on my own rig, using 6 gauge wire, but I have a habit of over-doing things.. :D )
Anyway, you'll have no gauge to 'see' if you're charging or not, but if eveything else is working right, you'll keep the battery charged up just fine.
An easy way to check, is to start the engine and turn the headlights on.. See what they look like at idle... If you then rev the engine a bit, and they brighten up, you're good to go ;)
dukoD150
03-22-2008, 07:43 AM
Ok guys.... I spent some time yesterday pulling the dash apart. I cleaned the bulkhead connection, it "looked" fine. I got into the gauges and wired up a new amp meter.... didnt fix my problem. I mentioned earlier that I had a new voltage regulator.... well I decided that because I bought it from advanced auto.... and that it was probably re-built... I bought a new one, put it on and wha-la.... 14.5V, problem solved. Thanks for your help guys... I am sure I will not be a stranger on here... many more projects up and comming.
Megunticook
03-22-2008, 07:50 AM
Good show! Smart thinking to suspect a faulty VR from Advance.
Man, if I had a dollar for every story I hear about faulty "new" discount parts--it just reinforces the old adage, "you get what you pay for."
Seems the lesson is always to pay more for the quality part and save yourself the time and aggravation. Of course it's getting harder and harder to find quality parts as even the old standby name brands are bowing to the cost-cutting pressures of the "world economy." But that's a topic for another thread.
Just curious, what brand did you get? And what was the cost difference?
Soldierboy
03-24-2008, 05:43 AM
I cant figure out how to put a website on here, because it keeps telling me to remove it, but if you google search: (dodge truck amp gauge)
It will be the first link that comes up
from madelectrical
