My 79 wagon sat for most of the winter this year till the beginning of February when my dad came to visit. The day he was due to arrive, I uncovered the car, and aired up the tires that were low. On the drive to the airport, the alt light started to blink from time to time. On the way back it got worse. That night, I swapped out the original alternator for a used one that I had from another car. The light went out and has been out till last week. Last week, the light started blinking from time to time again. I rebuilt the original alternator, the armature was in bad shape along with the brushes, and installed it this morning. At first all was good, then after a while, the light started blinking again. I swapped it out again with another rebuilt unit this afternoon. It started to blink right off the bat but on the drive home from my parents house it did not blink at all. Infact, I drove it to the store as well and it again did not blink. The voltage regulator is original as well however I have not messed with it yet as I have not been able to find my spares. Does anyone have an idea what my problem is? I find it hard to believe that all my alternators are bad. Any help would be appreciated.
Hello Tigger,
Have you tried replacing the alt. belt?
Sometimes when a car sits rust builds up on the pullys and when started the belt is ground down a bit thinner.
I always swap the regulator when doing an alt. change.
The regulator MUST be grounded to the body.
Check the 3/8 bolts that hold the regulator to the body.
If in doubt. remove and grind down to get a good connection.
Does your negative battery cable have a body ground?
The Neg MUST be ground to the block ""AND" the chasis.
If your battery cable does not have the ground cable coming off the side?
Use a grounding strap that goes from the block to the chasis.
From Pintony
Check the fuse links that connect to the same terminal as the positive battery cable to make sure that they are not burnt out, some times they will burn out and the insulation will be still holding together, just pull or tug on each one of them, if one is burned out the insulation will come apart when you pull on it, if not it will not come apart.
Mine did something similar and it was the post where main battery wire connets to ALT. was just barely loose. Not the nut that holds the wire, but the one that holds the post tight.
Thanks for the input. I finallly had some time to play with it. I stopped at the auto parts store on my way home and had the alternator I rebuilt tested. It passed so I bought a voltage regulator. When I removed the original voltage regulator, the plug was full of crud and sediment from the past 27 years. Also, one of the leads from the regulator came off with the plug ::) I cleaned the plug and connectors out as best as I could and taped up two of the 4 wires that were beginning to crack from the movement. I also cleaned the battery terminals since I was already there. It seems to be working, no more blinking light ;D Does that harness unplug from somewhere so it can be replaced?