Re: Voltage reg. not regulatin'

Posted by HH56 On 2012/5/31 15:28:33

First, we'll hope the regulator is the correct one for the car and generator. Have been a few cases with that body series lately where that has not been true and lots of over/under/intermittent wacky charging issues.

I'd remove the cover and verify the condition of the contacts. A common service item in the day was to clean and dress the contacts. Don't know if they made the long battery in 8v versions but if so, at 8.4 volts, it is possible the regulator may have been changed or adjusted to accommodate an 8v battery sometime in the car's life. Somewhat common back in the day -- at least on the regular square style batteries.

If that is not the case, then is it possible there is a grounding issue and the generator and regulator are at slightly different potentials. There should be a wire between generator frame or case to a mounting screw on headlight terminal strip at L fender and then another wire from that same screw to the regulator ground screw (or mounting screw if no separate ground). Verify there is and the connections are clean & solid.

If that is good, then make sure the one or two resistors on the bottom of regulator are not touching ground. Not a likely problem since the voltage isn't railed but has happened for one reason or another.

If everything is good, then I'm afraid it will take a shop with the proper equipment to diagnose exactly what is happening.