Electrical woes...

[silvertonguedevil]

Ok, so Friday morning I fire up my pickup to head to work. It's dark so I turn on the headlights and as I'm sitting there, with the engine idling, the headlights/instrument cluster lights dim down....and then pop back up....and then dim back down again. Wierd. So as I'm heading to work, same thing is happening the whole way there. Now at first, if I revved it at all, the lights would pop back up bright again. Now they are just dim all of the time no matter what I do. The turn signals are slow to start blinking (there's like a 3 or 4 second delay before they start) and when they do start blinking, their "on" time is very short and the windshield wipers are also very slow. It hasn't given me any problems starting at all since Friday (and I drive it everyday). It's a '71 with a 350 in it. It's got a brand new battery and regulator. I would probably start pointing my finger at the alternator but I question the dimming on and off of the lights. I have never seen an alternator cause this. Any ideas

[Russell]

Check to see if the battery poles are tight. My truck was just doing this, and what it was is that my positive battery pole had come loose, and my poor 63 amp alternator was struggling to run the whole truck.

[silvertonguedevil]

The posts and cable clamps are solid and tight.

[70c10]

Check the terminal on top of the passenger side core support and the junction block on the passenger fender. Sand them down to bare metal and see if it helps. Keep us posted!

[68w/sbc406]

i would think it might be in that hot spot by the batterty too, thats where the whole harness gets power. keep us posted, hows the house???

[Sweet72]

Does the starter turn the engine over slowly? If so, check the neg. batt. lead where it attaches to the engine and the bonding straps from engine to chassis. Why did you replace the reg.? There's no guarantee that the new reg. isn't causing the problem. Sounds more like a bad connection from the battery as 70c10 said though.

[cableguy0]

the first thing i would do is check to make sure its charging. on an externally regulated alternator the lights will dim and brighten depending on rpm in most cases. check that first will take just a minute with a volt meter before you go chasing ghosts. if it is charging then check your grounds

[Sweet72]

Good point CG!

[silvertonguedevil]

I have checked the ground strap to the engine and it seems tight. I replaced the regulator only because I had a hunch that it might be the problem and besides...it was $9. I was having the problem before replacing the regulator so I don't think the new one is faulty. The engine turns over just like it always has-with no problems. I have not had the alternator output checked yet. I work too damn much to mess with this (other than on the weekends). The lights didn't exactly brighten only with rpm's. It just seemed that they would click back on when I revved it or hit a bump or smiled at a girl.....or.....well, basically for no reason at all. Now, they don't brighten for anything. The turn signals and wipers seem to be quicker when the headlights are on (obviously) but.... It's driving me crazy.

[silvertonguedevil]

Ok, New development. I just drove it home. It started just fine but the lights continually dimmed down until they were barely even on by the time I got home. The turn signals would not work at all and the wipers barely moved. The engine started cutting out when I would accelerate from a stop. Once I was officially home, I shut off the engine and then tried to start it again and there was nothing-no crank, no click-nothing. And the headlights barely come on, even with it now not running. I'm kind of leaning towards alternator now. Whaddya think?

[70c10]

I went thru 3 rebuilt alternators before getting a good one. I'm talking about the $23 parts store ones. Of course I only had to pay for the first one but it was still a pain.

[Brainchild]

Yeah sounds like the alternator.I would opt to swap for the newer one with the internal regulator while I had to replace it anyway.Maybe they'll be nice and let you return hte new regulator and get your $9 back.

[cableguy0]

told ya so :p im kidding thats what i figured good luck

[68w/sbc406]

i can help with the wiring if you change to a internal regulator

[silvertonguedevil]

What all do you have to do to wire it? Does it make that much of a difference? Keep in mind that this is probably going to end up being my parts truck for my '72.

[cableguy0]

not worth worrying about if its going to be become a parts truck go get another 30 dollar alternator and leave it as is. the internals are more expensive

[Brainchild]

It makes a ton of difference,IMO.Running any kind of high powerr accessories,it's a neccessity.
It's a matter of swapping a couple of wires,and it bolts in directly.Took me under 20 minutes.

http://207.44.196.117/vboard/showthread.php3?t=119379

[68w/sbc406]

its not to hard. if you buy it now you wont have to buy it for the 72

[silvertonguedevil]

I thought I would update all of you who went through yet another sleepless night last night due to my recent charging system problems. I was removing my alternator this morning to transplant another one in when I noticed this blue wire was not connected properly. I threw on another connector, broke out the defribrillator and her heartbeat is going strong again. Thank you for all of your cards, kind words, thoughts and prayers in this time of uncertainty. God bless all of you

[72gord]

Throw those connectors away and use solder and heat shrink tubing....no more worries! Good luck, Gord

[68w/sbc406]

or atleast get the nylon ones

[Russell]

Yeah, those things are junk, get yourself some shrink tubing with sealant in it, and splice those wires properly

[silvertonguedevil]

I have no idea why someone would have it wired that way but I had to fix it in the same fashion. I was lucky to find the connectors since it's Thanksgiving. I just needed it fixed. I'll do it the right way soon.