ive finally goten around to bringing the comet up to speed and ran into a little road block. its a '76 250 auto. im chasing down the electrical issue the former owner was dealing with. the alternater, starter solinoid, battery, voltage regulator and negative batery cable are all new yet the batery keeps draining. I did the "remove the negitive cable while its running" trick and it imeadiatly DIED. so i removed the alt and took it to pep boys and they checked it 4 times and it passed 4 times. i checked the grounds, everything looks good, im stumped. what am i missing? thanks
I would check that all the connectors make good contact, and check for a bad wire in the wiring harness (do a standard continuity check). Also check that the engine is grounded to the body.
I had this issue once on the yellow car and it was the voltage regulator. It was NEW, but it was bad.
just got off the phone with my dad, he's telling me i need to "polerize"(sp?) a new voltage regulator before putting it on which i didnt do, i just hooked it up. anyone know what he's talking about? he said something about reversing the flow of elertricity or somethin to activate it??? im thinking about temporairly swaping on my mav's regulator since it should be fine but im afraid it'll burn out too and then the'll both need new ones.
A trick (well..not a trick really) we use at work is to disconnect the positive battery cable, then connect one lead of a volt meter to the cable and the other lead to the battery terminal. It will read battery voltage if there is something drawing the system down. From there, just start disconnecthing things until the voltage drops. Once the voltage drops you found your problem. I usually start with the radio. Most radios have a memory feature that pulls a constant draw on the system, but it takes a LONG time to draw a battery down, but it will throw the readings off on the volt meter....so disconnect the memory wire first. Then disconnect teh voltage regulator. Then go from there. But first you will want to test the output of the alternator at the battery. SHould be 13-14 volts with the engine running. If not, look into replacing the regulator, and if nothing there, it's usually a wiring issue. IIRC, there is a fusible link at the starter relay that sometimes burns and if that happens it will not charge. I may be wrong with that though...and someome correct me if I am.
If a voltage regulator is not properly grounded, it can fry in about 5 seconds. The original battery ground wire went from the battery, to the base of the voltage regulator, then to the engine block. Since aftermarket cables do not have the lug for this connection, its best to make your own.
ouch, that makes me feel better looks like i'll have to crack out the voltage meter. the car hasnt had a radio since i bought it so i guess i can scratch that off the list and i removed the buzzer because sometimes it wouldnt turn off. well thanks or the help, looks like the trouble shooting process shal continue
