I am at the point of tears right now

Wiring, lights, heater controls, anything electrical..
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dodged200cs

I am at the point of tears right now

Post by dodged200cs »

I spent alot of time cleaning connections, etc on my truck, so it would be ready for it's big day: a new voltage regulator. Imagine my *#%^$& suprise when I put the regulator on, start the truck, and it fires right up. After a minute, smoke is pouring out of the damn voltage regulator!

I hastily shut it off, and rip the voltage regulator off, swearing to kick niehoff's @#% for building a hunk of junk! The big resistance thing on the back was burning!

I am at the point of a mental breakdown here. Nothing makes a damn bit of sense here. What is the big wire that is screwed to the firewall (a ground?) I had to unscrew this wire, and since there is no other place for it, I screwed it back down in the same place it was before.

Is this burning the voltage regulator up? Please tell me it is. This is making my blood boil, and pissing me off to no damn extreme. I want my baby to run well, so I can get my full drivers license! Why must everything be a road block? :pale

Oh yeah, the dummy voltage gauge is swinging back and forth like a annoying swing!

It was doing this also when we drove it about 300 miles back to nevada (used headlights for about 100+ miles, so we had plenty of time for it to die and need a jumpstart, but we didn't) The voltage gauge was swinging back and forth also!

This is all becoming a bunch of :censored :bs, and my fuse is about ready to blow! :banghead :banghead :banghead :banghead :banghead

cliffs:

constant problems with discharging

replaced voltage regulator (solid *#%^ one)

replaced alternator

had alternator tested, bad rectifers

bought a nice new 60 amp alternator

still have discharge problem, but it ran fine for 25 minutes straight under a high load (all lights on, etc)

drove it around perfectly fine at night time

drove over to have some dinner with my family

came out to leave, and it won't start! Starter just moans in protest trying to turn over!

clean/replace fuses

decide to ditch solid state regulator

ordered new regulator (see other thread)

installed new regulator, it burns up!

very pissed off!

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Seabee
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Post by Seabee »

Stand down. Smoke is bad, but don't send it to the yard yet. Time to back up and look at the whole system. I checked your earlier post and didn't find what year truck it is - let me know that and we'll look at the wiring diagram. Secondly - exactly what alternator did you get? Is it the old style (one field wire, one batt. wire), or the newer (two Fld, one Batt wire)??
A point to note here is that the newer style will not work with either the old mechanical regulators or the solid state replacement for that regulator.

Let me know the details and I'll help to noodle it through.

dodged200cs

Post by dodged200cs »

Hello Seabee,

it is the old style alternator. My truck is a 67 dodge d200 camper special.

Thanks for your help, this is really getting on my nerves at this point. All the obvious parts of the system check out, that is what is so frustrating. The fuse block looks to be properly grounded, no cut wires or unplugged wires.

I am just up against a wall at this point!

Dane

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Seabee
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Post by Seabee »

No problem. I'll spend some time with this at lunch and post some thoughts.

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CSS-Registry
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Post by CSS-Registry »

do you have electronic ignition on this truck? sometime if you don't put on an electronic voltage regulator with your electronic ignition setup you may end up with a charging problem. my dad and i installed electronic ignition on the 64 truck i have now and for some reason it ended up in a full-on charge position and fried the AMP gauge and then the points type regulator. changing to electronic regulator will force you to go through all your wires which in many ways is a good thing.

here's a link to basic wiring diagram for electronic ignition and spark control -
http://www.moparts.com/Tech/Archive/elec/21.html
http://www.moparts.com/Tech/Archive/elec/3.html
a good upgrade all around....

btw - i used both these diagram to wire in a Valiant i bought that had ZERO wires under the hood - it ran and charged fine with no fires... I hope this helps...
ben
Custom Sports Special
& High Performance Package
R E G I S T R Y

BigT

Post by BigT »

I ran accross a simular prob years ago. Check to make sure that the slip ring in the alt has not moved to short out the terminal to ground . You can use the later alt but you have to remove the insulater from one of the brushes and replace it with a 1/4 lock washer so that it will complete the ground . The old style just grounds the brush when it is screwed to the case.PS cut the connecter terminal off so you don't plug the reg wire in by accident.Get smoke again.

dodged200cs

Post by dodged200cs »

BigT wrote:I ran accross a simular prob years ago. Check to make sure that the slip ring in the alt has not moved to short out the terminal to ground . You can use the later alt but you have to remove the insulater from one of the brushes and replace it with a 1/4 lock washer so that it will complete the ground . The old style just grounds the brush when it is screwed to the case.PS cut the connecter terminal off so you don't plug the reg wire in by accident.Get smoke again.
can you please clarify this? Are you talking about the wire attached to the firewall that I took off, and then bolted it to the bottom of the regulator closest to the passengers side fender?

Image

See the metal tab at the bottom that is riveted on? I hooked the wire to that, since it would not have any other place to go. Is that what caused the smoke?

Dane

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Seabee
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Post by Seabee »

Ok, VERY little time at lunch to work on this, but did get a look at the diagram.
To answer your hookup questions:

FLD (field) terminal on alternator should have a light green wire hooked to it. This wire then goes through the harness and will connect to the FLD terminal of the regulator.
BAT (battery) on the alternator should be a black wire that is there at the alt wire harness, goes through a plug into the cab, and joins a junction block.
IGN (Ignition) on the regulator should be a black wire that will go through the harness, through a plug into the cab, to the fusebox.
Your firewall wire should be the ground wire (it's screwed/bolted directly to the metal firewall right?). This can connect to the metal mounting base of the regulator and MUST NOT connect to either the IGN or FLD terminals.

Verify that your alternator has ONLY Bat, and 1(one)FLD terminal.

dodged200cs

Post by dodged200cs »

Seabee wrote:Ok, VERY little time at lunch to work on this, but did get a look at the diagram.
To answer your hookup questions:

FLD (field) terminal on alternator should have a light green wire hooked to it. This wire then goes through the harness and will connect to the FLD terminal of the regulator.
BAT (battery) on the alternator should be a black wire that is there at the alt wire harness, goes through a plug into the cab, and joins a junction block.
IGN (Ignition) on the regulator should be a black wire that will go through the harness, through a plug into the cab, to the fusebox.
Your firewall wire should be the ground wire (it's screwed/bolted directly to the metal firewall right?). This can connect to the metal mounting base of the regulator and MUST NOT connect to either the IGN or FLD terminals.

Verify that your alternator has ONLY Bat, and 1(one)FLD terminal.
Image

I connected what I assume is a ground wire to the tab that was riveted on the bottom of the unit in the above picture.

Yes, it is a wire that is directly screwed to the firewall. If I put the voltage regulator on the firewall, that wire is covered up by that metal tab piece on the bottom, hence why I took it off and bolted it directly onto the unit in the place mentioned earlier.

I will check the alternator later, as I am at work right now. I can tell you it has 2 wires, the battery connection wire, and I can't remember what the second wire is. It is a wire that is close to the engine block and hard to get it in.

Dane

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wideblock
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Post by wideblock »

been there and done that on my 66. check where the harness runs thru the clips along the manifold, i had the batt wire rubbed thru and was grounding on the engine, thus sending current thru the motor ground strap and to the fire wall wich in turn roasted my regulator. you also need to verify that the wire you hooked to the bottom of the reg, from the fire wall, is indeed a ground wire. trace it out, it should be bolted to a manifold bolt or a valve cover bolt.
Trey

1965 CSS Utiline.


ex trucks:
70 D100
66 d100
66 d100
67 d100
69 d100
69 d200 crew cab
65 crew cab
66 d100
66 d100


"i don't know it all, but i know enough to be dangerous"

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meangreen
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Post by meangreen »

it happens to the best of us :salut
DeviantS c.c.
the lower to the ground the closer to hell, thats where were all goin anyway. if sparks dont fly your to high
Image


1970 d-100
76 360, 727 3 speed auto.

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