Voltage regulator?

[Selahdoor]

When you turn the key to run, waiting for the glow plugs...

The volts gauge pops to the normal spot. Stays there while the GPs are cycling.

When they have finished, the GP controller starts clicking.

With each click, the volts gauge reads a little higher.

Finally, when the GP controller clicks off, the volts gauge pegs to the top of the gauge.


Is this a gauge problem, or a voltage regulator problem, er whut?

I don't want to put too much time on it with it pegged like that. Need to get it figured out.

How to test this???

 

[Jason1377]

when I changed my Gp's n controller never had that clicking noise and my wait to start light stays on about 5 seconds an I can start her up with fresh fuel if not I get a smoke screen.

 

[Selahdoor]

My GPs and controller are working fine.

My concern is with the volts gauge ******* to the top when it is finished.

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

Use a volt meter and probe the battery terminals with everything off. Standing voltage of a healthy battery will be 12.8v.

Repeat with the engine running, voltage should be between 14.0v and 14.5v. You can survive with as low as 13.5v but that's barely getting by as far as healthy charging is concerned. That said the OE regulator is most likely 13.8 or something silly. It's pretty pathetic.

As with most of our stock gauges, the volt gauge is pretty low on usefulness.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I would say that it's not a voltage regulator issue. If I'm right, the regulator doesn't have anything to regulate until the alternator is turning fast while the engine is running (compared to when it's turning over with the starter). The only way I can see that the regulator can affect anything while the engine's not running is if it has an internal short. Then the voltage will get lower, not higher. This is a slow draw since the regulator just stay energized.

 

[Selahdoor]

Ok, I've been miserable sick for a while now. But tomorrow, I might be able to go out and pay better attention.

I believe the order of events has been that I wait for it to start clicking, then start it immediately.

I don't wait for the clicking to stop.

So the engine starts. Then the clicking stops, then the gauge pegs.

I'll try just leaving the key on, and not starting it, and see what happens when the clicking is done.

 

[BeastMaster]

Are your lights abnormally bright?

Or are you burning out light bulbs like there's no tomorrow?

Be extra careful around your battery. If it is being overcharged, it will be venting lots of hydrogen. You may be only one arc away from an engine bay full of hot acid.

Or it could be nothing more than a bad connection from the alternator to the battery, making the regulator call for more juice, that does not make it to the battery.

But, if the engine was never running, there's nothing to charge the battery with. I would be all over your battery and instrument cluster with a decent volt ohmmeter... My tool of choice is the old Triplett 630, but anything like it would work just as well.

Maybe something amiss with the series dropping resistor used in voltmeter circuits? It will likely be on the instrument cluster PCB.

 

[Selahdoor]

Are your lights abnormally bright?

Or are you burning out light bulbs like there's no tomorrow?

Be extra careful around your battery. If it is being overcharged, it will be venting lots of hydrogen. You may be only one arc away from an engine bay full of hot acid.

Or it could be nothing more than a bad connection from the alternator to the battery, making the regulator call for more juice, that does not make it to the battery.

But, if the engine was never running, there's nothing to charge the battery with. I would be all over your battery and instrument cluster with a decent volt ohmmeter... My tool of choice is the old Triplett 630, but anything like it would work just as well.

Maybe something amiss with the series dropping resistor used in voltmeter circuits? It will likely be on the instrument cluster PCB.

I replaced the taillights the other day. Replaced the bulbs while I was at it. Put bright LEDs in the backups.

None of the lights, front or back, seem especially bright. If anything, unusually dim.

I'll research and check out all the rest of the suggestions here. Thanks guys!

2:30am. I am sick, miserable and unable to sleep, and we just had an earthquake. Brought a tree down somewhere on my property. I'll find out where, in the daylight.

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

Hey we felt that earthquake too! It was pretty minimal here but somehow I was already awake for about 2 mins before it hit. Spidey sense!

A decent voltmeter will be your friend for the rest of your life if you don't already have one. Even on one of these pickups that require very little electrical knowledge.
And really they are all multi-meters now, I have a good $30 suggestion on Amazon if you need one.

 

[Selahdoor]

I've got three or four.

 

[franklin2]

He says the gauge pegs before he even starts the engine. So that would eliminate the regulator and the alternator both. I think there is something wrong with the gauge. When the glowplugs are glowing it should not be in the middle. It should be way over to the left on 8v. The glowplugs draw a lot of current and the volt gauge shows this by being way over there to the left. When mine is running and the batteries are fully charged and there are no large electrical loads, my volt gauge points right in the middle of the scale. Any larger loads and it will move to the left. And mine does charge at the lower 13.5-13.8 volts.

 

[BeastMaster]

My voltage reads about 10 volts when glow plugs on, and I wait for them to cycle five times or so before attempting a crank. My failure to wait is usually rewarded with a longer and smokier start.

My gauge reads maybe 8 volts or so during crank, but it's a relatively robust crank that usually catches within one compression. May take two or three if I did not wait.

The voltage then goes to about 14 when the engine catches and the alternator comes online. Once I see the electrical system come up right, I turn on things like lights, air conditioning, or other loads... but I am reticient to engage these other loads until I see the system ready to accept them.

I want to get that engine started first .. then I'll engage the comfort stuff.

Personally, i think this gremlin is in the instrument cluster...either the series current resistor to the voltage gauge, or a sneak current path around that resistor.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I want to get that engine started first .. then I'll engage the comfort stuff.

Great priorities! If more people were like that today, we could still get a standard transmission in new trucks.

 

[79jasper]

Great priorities! If more people were like that today, we could still get a standard transmission in new trucks.

I think it's more about holding up to the power. Would be a pretty stiff clutch peddle. Once the power numbers were climbing, most manufacturers actually derated the manual trans over the auto trucks.
Probably harder to get the torque limiting systems to work with a manual as well.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Maybe it was just a way to get you to buy another transmission in a couple hundred thousand miles or less?