voltage regulators

[JOES66FURY]

I use a ton of them...like a new one every friggin month.....thoughts?

[Scott Liggett]

Re: voltage regulators

I was told to get a regulator and alternator at the same time. If one goes, replace both. I was going through them left and right on the Caprice. Finally had enough and bought an internal regulated 100 amp one wire. No problems since.

[Eric68]

Re: voltage regulators

Can you switch to a alternator with a built in regulator?

Not familiar with the MOPAR stuff, but the GM alternators with internal regulators are dead reliable and have been for years. To switch a GM car originally equipped with an external regulator there are two wires in the regulator plug that get jumpered and its a done deal. If you want it to look original, you can gut the regulator and hide the jumpers inside.

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: voltage regulators

Don't Mo'Par's have the worlds second worst electrical systems only to anything made by Lucas?

[JOES66FURY]

Re: voltage regulators

Don't Mo'Par's have the worlds second worst electrical systems only to anything made by Lucas?

No, I think they are worse..

[DanStokes]

Re: voltage regulators

Actually, I had pretty good luck with early Mopar electricals. I'd check the output of the alternator. Might be too high, taxing the regulator, or too low, causing the regulator to stay active all the time. Sometimes a dirty alt output can screw up the regulator, too. Basically, I'd go with Scott's suggestion - alternator and regulator at the same time.

Another suggestion - find a REAL alternator shop where they actually do their own rebuilds (we have at least 1 here in town). Have them do the whole deal, then they're responsible for the outcome. So if it screws up, they have to fix it. Bet they'll get it right.

Dan

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: voltage regulators

I'm not familar with Mopar charging systems, but I imagine there is a grounding wire on the Regulator. Make sure it's got a good ground, if it's got a capacitor/noise suppressor on it make sure you have continuity through it.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: voltage regulators

x2 - what dan said. My first car was a 62 Skylark that ate regulators and alternators often, until I took it to an auto electric shop; they replaced the regulator and the alternator with their stuff and it lasted beyond my ownership and the next guy's (20 years).

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: voltage regulators

My '64 Riviera ate regalators and I discovered that one of the pins had pulled out of the alternator harness and all I had to do was push it back in and double check it had seated when I put it back on and it worked great till I switched to an ECM regulated alternator with my EFI swap.

[squirrel]

Re: voltage regulators

Mopar changed the voltage regulator and alternator around 1970...older ones had a single regulator plug on the alternator, and a mechanical regulator. Later ones use two terminals on the alternator, and an electronic regulator. Might look into upgrading to the electronic style. Of course, I'm assuming the thing is wired correctly and has the right parts.

Also a BIG problem with those 60s mopars is the factory ammeter in the dash...it will go bad, and not let the battery charge! because it's in the wiring path between the alternator and battery. If it's acting wonky, you might try bypassing it--just connect all the wires that go to it together on one post.

[Matt Cramer]

Re: voltage regulators

Don't Mo'Par's have the worlds second worst electrical systems only to anything made by Lucas?

No, I think they are worse..

Having owned both a '66 Dodge Dart and a '79 Triumph Spitfire, I have to say the Dart's electronics somehow look as if they were a couple decades newer than the electronics on a Spitfire. The Spitfire had no circuit breakers or fusable links, and only three fuses in the entire car, none of which were on the headlights. You pretty much have to try to design wiring that bad.

But at any rate - Joe, what brand of voltage regulators are you using, and have you converted from points to electronic regulators?

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: voltage regulators

But at any rate - Joe, what brand of voltage regulators are you using, and have you converted from points to electronic regulators?

Good point. My experience is that 3 out of 4 NAPA voltage regulators are bad out of the box. That's between Ford and GM cars.

[JOES66FURY]

Re: voltage regulators

Mopar changed the voltage regulator and alternator around 1970...older ones had a single regulator plug on the alternator, and a mechanical regulator. Later ones use two terminals on the alternator, and an electronic regulator. Might look into upgrading to the electronic style. Of course, I'm assuming the thing is wired correctly and has the right parts.

Also a BIG problem with those 60s mopars is the factory ammeter in the dash...it will go bad, and not let the battery charge! because it's in the wiring path between the alternator and battery. If it's acting wonky, you might try bypassing it--just connect all the wires that go to it together on one post.

I bypassed the ammeter a while back as I felt this was causing the battery to drain overnight.....it was not the case but it didn't hurt...the wireing back there was a fire waiting to happen.......I think the problem lies in the collum as far as the static draw....when I changed the rag join...you remember that fine rag joint I had....lol.......well while I was changing it I was getting weak spark from my wrenches when they would ground out to the frame of header....and I would get a little jolt...there is nothing on the top end but I have not looked at the bottome end of the collum to see if I got a live wire touching the collum somewhere.....


I will replace the alt and regulator soon and let you know what happens. Thanks!


i d

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: voltage regulators

when you bypassed the ammeter - on mopars they are in series , whicj is why they melt and cause fires - you may have removed a resistance that keep your breaker points in your regulator from frying - like a condenser for points
we used to get a lot of fried pcm back in the day when a solenoid [like egr ]went bad and sent too much voltage back to ecm -ZAP
check on a worshipper forum like moparts , you may get an answer , those ammeter were trouble

[JOES66FURY]

Re: voltage regulators

when you bypassed the ammeter - on mopars they are in series , whicj is why they melt and cause fires - you may have removed a resistance that keep your breaker points in your regulator from frying - like a condenser for points
we used to get a lot of fried pcm back in the day when a solenoid [like egr ]went bad and sent too much voltage back to ecm -ZAP
check on a worshipper forum like moparts , you may get an answer , those ammeter were trouble

It ate regulators prior to the bypass.....I did my research on the bypass aswell....talked to the MOPAR gods at another forum and followed their directions.....although I may rewire the whole system just to be sure.....I love electrical work too....good times....