The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network







Register or Log In To remove these advertisements.

Go Back   The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network > 47 - Current classic GM Trucks > The 1967 - 1972 Chevrolet & GMC Pickups Message Board

Web 67-72chevytrucks.com


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-23-2002, 12:40 AM   #1
Patrick Sullivan
Transcendental Trucker
 
Patrick Sullivan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Rockaway Beach, OR
Posts: 374
What the heck just happened.. ?!

Not quite sure what just happened.. driving home from work, and everything gets REAL BRIGHT all of a sudden.. ammeter pegged to the right. My headlights blow out, so I'm driving down the highway in the dark and I can't see a thing.. but I'm scared so I just speed up and hope I get home.. I can smell burning stuff, and of course I don't have a fire extinguisher with me, so I go even faster.. my guages all still work except for my temp guage which was slowly pegging to the right, which is wierd, since I don't think my engine was getting any hotter.. coming close to home, and the engine just about dies on me.. no gas response at all.. I make the final turn, and the truck is bearly idling.. any gas would make it backfire and chug, but it was idling fine.. get home, pop the hood, one of the positive wires from my battery is COMPLETELY melted through.. it's the one that goes to the wierd plastic thing on the fender, that apparently all the accessories run off of? Something like that.. anyway..

I suspect something shorted out, which made my (new) alternator go crazy and charge like it had never done before.. which in turn started melting things.. but I didn't blow a single fuse? And the only lights I blew were my headlights.. orange lights and side markers are (I think) still working.. and my temperature guage is STILL pegged, even with the battery totally disconnected.

Now.. what the hell?!?!

Sorry for the unorganized message, but I'm still shaken up, hahah.. thought it was gonna catch fire or something. I have noticed the ammeter bouncing around when running the truck before.. was that a harbringer of doom?
__________________
Patrick Sullivan | sullivan@oregoncoast.com
Rockaway Beach, Oregon
1972 Chevy Cheyenne C-20
1998 Dodge Dakota 4x4

So, fill to me the parting glass
And drink a health whate'er befalls...
Then gently rise and softly call
Goodnight and joy be to you all!
Patrick Sullivan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2002, 12:45 AM   #2
whateva
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Poway, Ca
Posts: 108
Sounds like your voltage regulator took a crap and that you melted your fusable link.
whateva is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2002, 12:52 AM   #3
Patrick Sullivan
Transcendental Trucker
 
Patrick Sullivan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Rockaway Beach, OR
Posts: 374
The guages read to the right when they're grounded, right? I can't find the temperature sender, I think that's where it's shorting out..

No fusable link.. it was a straight 10 guage wire.. I know someone butchered this wiring in the past but it has never given me much trouble.. hahah
__________________
Patrick Sullivan | sullivan@oregoncoast.com
Rockaway Beach, Oregon
1972 Chevy Cheyenne C-20
1998 Dodge Dakota 4x4

So, fill to me the parting glass
And drink a health whate'er befalls...
Then gently rise and softly call
Goodnight and joy be to you all!
Patrick Sullivan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2002, 01:05 AM   #4
68 Stepside
huh?
 
68 Stepside's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Washington, Illinois
Posts: 5,690
sounds like it was a dead short to me....

if you could possibly prove that it was your new alternator that caused all this, they would have to replace all your wiring as well.

The temp sender is in the left head (drivers side), between the first 2 plugs. I would tend to think that little wire couldn't cause the whole mess of wiring to disentigrate. But you never know. Either way, a good, uncut used harness is cheap, I'd go that route, but I'd certainly try to determine what caused the whole problem before you replace the wiring.

Best of luck to you

T
__________________
Someday when I'm lonely,
Wishing you weren't so far away,
Then I will remember
Things we said today.

RIP El Jay
68 Stepside is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2002, 01:11 AM   #5
Patrick Sullivan
Transcendental Trucker
 
Patrick Sullivan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Rockaway Beach, OR
Posts: 374
Temp sensor is on the driver's side? Green wire? Hmm.. I disconnect that and the guage still stays pegged.. guess I'll follow the wire up. Thanks.
__________________
Patrick Sullivan | sullivan@oregoncoast.com
Rockaway Beach, Oregon
1972 Chevy Cheyenne C-20
1998 Dodge Dakota 4x4

So, fill to me the parting glass
And drink a health whate'er befalls...
Then gently rise and softly call
Goodnight and joy be to you all!
Patrick Sullivan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2002, 01:15 AM   #6
68 Stepside
huh?
 
68 Stepside's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Washington, Illinois
Posts: 5,690
the gauge is pegged with no power? power may have to be applied before it'll go back down, or it's possible that it's fried. And yes, it's the green wire, forgot to mention that.

T
__________________
Someday when I'm lonely,
Wishing you weren't so far away,
Then I will remember
Things we said today.

RIP El Jay
68 Stepside is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2002, 01:47 AM   #7
Patrick Sullivan
Transcendental Trucker
 
Patrick Sullivan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Rockaway Beach, OR
Posts: 374
Ok.. replaced the melted positive wire, and the truck started again.. and my alt is charging without limit. Rev it up.. and everything gets real bright again, hehe. Guess tomorrow I'll be going for a new voltage regulator, though this one isn't even that old..

Disconnected the temp guage, and when I started the truck up it dropped back down to cold.. which leaves me wondering where the dead short is/was..

Thanks for the help, more updates tomorrow, hahah..
__________________
Patrick Sullivan | sullivan@oregoncoast.com
Rockaway Beach, Oregon
1972 Chevy Cheyenne C-20
1998 Dodge Dakota 4x4

So, fill to me the parting glass
And drink a health whate'er befalls...
Then gently rise and softly call
Goodnight and joy be to you all!
Patrick Sullivan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2002, 08:41 AM   #8
Old Dave
Is a bullfrog waterproof?
 
Old Dave's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: OLATHE, KANSAS
Posts: 1,130
It sound like your regulator is stuck and you're getting a lot more than 14.5VDC out. I would pull the alternator and have it checked before you replace the regulator just to make sure it's good. I had this happen one time on a Ford ambulance when they were on a fire call and it took out all the lights on the inside and outside. The regulator had failed and the it was putting out 63V.
__________________
"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."

Ben Franklin

__________________
1970 Chevy shortbed
2002 Harley Custom Chopper (Long sucker)
1998 K2500 5.7L 5-speed Longbed
1st two are My son's toys...they just live in my garage!
1997 GMC K1500 Suburban
1993 S-10 Blazer 4D (youngest son's daily driver)
2000 Dodge Ram 4WD Ext. Cab (5.9L)
Wife is a late year 1951
Old Dave is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2002, 09:56 PM   #9
Hooter
My other Love
 
Hooter's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Castlegar B.C. Canada
Posts: 4,085
Wow! exact same story as me !!. same thing happened to me right down to the temp guage in June. Scared the heck out of me, dash lights, headlights and guages. Voltage regulator crapped out and all my alternator wires melted together. Took me a week to fix all of the wirng
__________________




Castlegar B.C.The great white North (Canada Eh!)
Hooter_5@hotmail.com
First generation Monte Carlo club
pictures of my life
Hooter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2002, 10:49 PM   #10
barn9
Half a bubble off!
 
barn9's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Winfield, Ks, USA
Posts: 5,588
Lightbulb

What a perfect time and situation to switch to the newer style alternator and be done with the archaic voltage regulator. You'll be glad you did!
__________________
Just call me LB.
'71 Cheyenne, 402BB, hauls blondes, brunettes, or redheads.
barn9 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2002, 10:56 PM   #11
Hooter
My other Love
 
Hooter's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Castlegar B.C. Canada
Posts: 4,085
I did that after the situation and ive never been happier
__________________




Castlegar B.C.The great white North (Canada Eh!)
Hooter_5@hotmail.com
First generation Monte Carlo club
pictures of my life
Hooter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-24-2002, 12:24 AM   #12
DanoDMano
Pronounced "Pew-al-up"
 
DanoDMano's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Puyallup, Washington
Posts: 845
Burned Out

I had this happen to me , and I found the Power wire to the back of the alternator had shorted to the side of the alternator.
Used a meter and started pulling wires til the short went away pointing me to the alternator.
That wire goes to the fusebox, the alternator, and to the headlights I believe..

Easy Fix, but an expense if you are out in the middle of nowhere like I was...

Good Luck Buddie
__________________
Classic GM Trucks of Washington Club Member



1970 FS chevy,350/350, Edelbrock cam and intake. Holley 650 carb,HEI,AT,Tangier Orange, 18's,
Power Locks,

Truck Photos
DanoDMano is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:02 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright 1997-2022 67-72chevytrucks.com