Meter reading produced the same voltage with engine running. I pulled the alt and will have it tested tomorrow. It supposed to rain buckets tomorrow, I have frontend of truck pulled just inside garage however that means door will be open all night. Not worried about anyone breaking in or theft, we live out in the country, no fancy alarm system. Our home is protected by the Lord Almighty and a loaded gun. Thieves stand a good chance of meeting both!
Charging Issue
- Thread starter catbird7
- Start date
Add a dog and yer all set.
I keep considering getting a pocket dog.
One of those tiny yappy things.
I don't need a dog to protect me. I need a dog to hear for me, and warn me. And I don't want to break the bank feeding it. Too bad cats don't bark.
I keep considering getting a pocket dog.
One of those tiny yappy things.
I don't need a dog to protect me. I need a dog to hear for me, and warn me. And I don't want to break the bank feeding it. Too bad cats don't bark.
At this point I'm not sure what to wish for when they test it! If it tests bad, I'll likely be faced with controversy trying to return electrical component. This is deer season so I can't screw around, this truck is headed south in the next few days so it may require buying yet another alternator and fight about this one at a more convenient time...
Good luck friend...
Got to be something silly we are overlooking. How long did you let it run before you checked it? My truck needs to run up to a couple minutes before the volt gauge climbs back up. You have to refill the electrons before the voltage comes up. Fundamentally this is the ford version of the 1 wire alternator. All you should need to do is apply voltage to the green wire for it to output.
Here’s what I would do in this order.
1. Reinstall. Do not attach the heavy charge wire. Start truck and measure voltage at the charge lug. If you have voltage while running and no voltage while not running, in theory the alternator is putting out something. If that works move on. If not, I would jump the green wire direct to bat pos. If that works move on.
2. Connect the charge wire. Disconnect it from the post on the fender solenoid. Make sure you have voltage there like you had at the charge post. If yes, move on. If not, check the fuse by bypassing it.
3. With everything connected, start the truck and let it run for 10-15 minutes. Watch voltage. I don’t know what diameter pulley you have on it but when my batteries are flat, the alt belt squeaks because it’s pulling a lot of juice to recharge the batteries. Maybe the pulley is too large or too small? How does it compare with the 1g pulley?
I’m grasping at straws after that. It should just work.
My money is still on the green wire. I bet there’s something wrong with that circuit and that’s probably why it quit charging with the other alt. The fusible link wires can fool you. The can be broken down to a single strand and still read 12v until you put a load on the circuit. I chased one of those for a solid day before I figured it out. If the load of the alt is too much, the voltage will drop and it won’t charge. Mine was on the headlight circuits. I kept finding 6-7 volts. Nothing should be that in those circuits as far as I know.
Here’s what I would do in this order.
1. Reinstall. Do not attach the heavy charge wire. Start truck and measure voltage at the charge lug. If you have voltage while running and no voltage while not running, in theory the alternator is putting out something. If that works move on. If not, I would jump the green wire direct to bat pos. If that works move on.
2. Connect the charge wire. Disconnect it from the post on the fender solenoid. Make sure you have voltage there like you had at the charge post. If yes, move on. If not, check the fuse by bypassing it.
3. With everything connected, start the truck and let it run for 10-15 minutes. Watch voltage. I don’t know what diameter pulley you have on it but when my batteries are flat, the alt belt squeaks because it’s pulling a lot of juice to recharge the batteries. Maybe the pulley is too large or too small? How does it compare with the 1g pulley?
I’m grasping at straws after that. It should just work.
My money is still on the green wire. I bet there’s something wrong with that circuit and that’s probably why it quit charging with the other alt. The fusible link wires can fool you. The can be broken down to a single strand and still read 12v until you put a load on the circuit. I chased one of those for a solid day before I figured it out. If the load of the alt is too much, the voltage will drop and it won’t charge. Mine was on the headlight circuits. I kept finding 6-7 volts. Nothing should be that in those circuits as far as I know.
You might possibly find some useful information in this thread:
https://www.oilburners.net/threads/voltage-regulator.85927/
https://www.oilburners.net/threads/voltage-regulator.85927/
Well felllas, it was the f'n ground!!! Fina!!y hooked up a ground wire and it charged like, well like it's supposed to! I think this was self inflicted because I powder coated all of those brackets. Last reading engine was running, 14.2 volts! Thanks to all!!!! Awesome site!
Damn. Didn’t realize you’re brackets were powder coated.
Congrats on figuring it out. Hopefully you’ll have years of trouble free service.
IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
Makes perfect sense now. I'll bet you'd do another 3G swap in a heartbeat now.
bbjordan
Snow Monkey
If you still having problems after that a 3 g upgrade elmanates your system problems and painless makes a complete wireing harness and it's not that exspecive and you will need to replace alternator to a 3g type and it's easy to install I never had a problem with my charging system
The old charging system had the alt mounted in those same powder coated brackets, however it was grounded thru the voltage reg mounted on the fender.Apparently, yes.
