Charging Issue

[isotel]

This is the 84 in my Sig,

i cant get it to charge, New Alternator, New Batteries, New External Regulator..

Where do i look now?

History - when i purchased this truck it had a Parasitic drain with the key off for a few days it would drain the batteries, Got a new Alternator, and batteries, they both did not pass the local Stores Test, Same issues, Got a new regulator, now it wont charge.. Put in the old regulator, and its not charging either.

What are the Main Wires this thing needs to charge? Anyone have a Diagram? the 1G Ford Diagrams are the same as mine.. Only one wire on the Alt connector for "F" -Its got power when the truck is on.

I Went trough and looked for issues with the Wiring, Cleaned up dirty connectors, Tightened up all the connections.

 

[icanfixall]

This could just be a bad dash voltage gauge. None of these dash gauges ever were any good. When the motor is running the back of the alternater where the shaft bearing is will be magnetic if its chargeing. Try placing a flat blade screwdriver near that area. See what happens.

 

[isotel]

i do Believe the Alternator is charging.. When i was doing some tesging with my Meeter it sucked my Probe down to it.. I double checked that the Alt was good yesterday and had Napa Test it! Its got to be wiring..

Anyone have the All Data Wiring for an 84?? I cant log in anymore

 

[MUDKICKR]

does your battery light bulb work? the light bulb needs to work for the alt to work.

 

[isotel]

What is the Battery Light bulb? I have an empty Spot in my Dash lights on the Top Right, to the right of the "Brake" light

Edit, looks like that one was for 4x4

 

[MUDKICKR]

the battery light bulb is the light that looks like a battery when you turn the key on engine off.

 

[isotel]

where should it be on my dash? i have a gauge in the bottom right that has Batt on it ?? pulled the whole cluster apart, and there is not bulb, other than for illumination. i have no bulb on that indicates Batt when i put the key to On

 

[isotel]

it looks like either your truck had a light, or a guage, mine has a guage..

This is driving me crazy.. i put back in the original Regulator, and it was working great, charged for a few minutes,(Guage went to C, and went up with the RPM) i let it run while i messed with a few other things, then went back to it and it was not working again. Im going to go to the junkyard and pull some wiring out of another truck, have the batteries tested again i guess..

anyone else have ideas??

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

My 1985 has the useless "amp" gauge and if it ever had a "battery" light, I have never seen it.

Have you checked voltage at the battery, both running and OFF, with a digital voltmeter ??

Engine OFF, a reasonably good battery(s) should show around 12.5-volts or so.

Engine running, it should jump to around 14.5-volts or so.


It is possible that the KEY-ON signal to the voltage-regulator is in-operative, thus not turning "ON" the alternator.

 

[isotel]

So i went to AutoZone, Tested the Batteries, Both Failed.. New ones In,

Voltage at the Battery is about 15ish right now, Funny thing is, that's running or not?

Guage Still reads on the Negative side, and gets worse when i turn on the lights..

i do have power on the "F" Terminal of the Alternator.

Key-ON -- Would that signal come out of the switch box down under the dash on the column? or the wire that is exposed next to the turn signal mechanism?

 

[Fullsize4life]

You need a trip light. When you turn on your key a light bulb needs to light up. Then when you start your motor it will go out. This gives your alternator the start signal. If you dont have this it wont work. You need to find where it used to be and make a circit. There is also a fuseable link on the inner fender on the pass side. Take it out and unstall a nice big peice of wife in there. I had the same prob on my 78 and i put in a new light for a trip light and it worked great after that.

 

[isotel]

The Brake Light Is the only light on the dash that lights up and then goes out when i start it..
I see no other "loose" wires back there that could have been this light.. anyone have any ideas of where to look for these wires or what color they could be

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

You need a trip light. When you turn on your key a light bulb needs to light up. Then when you start your motor it will go out. This gives your alternator the start signal. If you dont have this it wont work.

The Brake Light Is the only light on the dash that lights up and then goes out when i start it..
I see no other "loose" wires back there that could have been this light.. anyone have any ideas of where to look for these wires or what color they could be

The need of the light may be so on some year-models, but I don't think so on these trucks.

The alternators with the "light" have a specific terminal on the alternator itself to connect this light to.

These alternators only have one wire/terminal at the plug, plus the charge wire.


If you are showing 15-volts with engine-OFF, maybe you should try a different meter.

 

[isotel]

Yea My Meter was Junk, got a new one today, 12.5 volts running or not.

Anyone Parting out an IDI and have a charging harness? i don't know what to do now..

 

[k_williams1982]

Anyone Parting out an IDI and have a charging harness? i don't know what to do now..

I have a '86 that I'm parting. What all do you need? I have the regulator and wiring. It was all working when the motor went bad. PM me an address and I'll get a shipping quote on Monday.