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On Monday I purchased a 52 200 with a straight 8. It is a 6 volt, but it was hooked up with a negative ground. The radio, heater fan, and temp gauge are not working. Can I just reverse the cables without any ill effects? I have a wiring diagram that I printed off from this site. Is there anything special I should look for before switching the cables. I was a mechanic for 15 years but never have worked on anything this old, or a 6 volt system. All help appreciated. Thanks, Tracy.

Be sure and polarize the regulator - generator, otherwise it might even run a little better. Did the ammeter read charge when it was above idle? If it did someone might have swapped sides with the wires.

When battery is changed around and while engine is off definitely repolarize the generator. You can do that by briefly shorting the ARM and BAT terminals together at the regulator using a short length of decent size wire. Only takes a second or two of connection and there will be a small spark. Nothing else in a stock Packard is polarity sensitive so nothing should have been damaged..

No temp gauge could be several things. If the gas gauge works you can rule out the instrument regulator. Remove the wire from the sender and briefly short it against the block while someone watches the gauge. If needle starts to move then sender is bad or wrong one. If no movement then wire or gauge. Don't leave the wire shorted any length of time. It doesn't take long for the needle to start to move.

Heater fan could be fuse or if the car had been sitting a long time, a stuck motor that needs a bit of lube. The fuse is inline between the power source (usually ign switch but could be feed side of aux breaker) and blower switch.

No radio could be fuse or vibrator or even a bad tube etc. If it is totally dead with no dial light, check fuse. That is also inline in wire from power source. If it has no hum or buzzing when you turn it on, vibrator is suspect. If the radio had the original vibrator replaced at some point with a modern solid state conversion, those are polarity sensitive and could have been destroyed with the reversed polarity. Once those items are ruled out then it would be a matter of needing more symptoms.

Thanks guys! I'll get going. I noticed that there is no "fuse Box" on these, just inlines and breakers. This car was born the same year I was!

G'day willits18,
to PackardInfo. I invite you to include your '52 200 in the Packard Owner's Registry here on PackardInfo.

for including your '52 200 Deluxe Touring Sedan in the Registry.

The heater fan motor was just loose wires. The temp sender is a sending unit. I haven't had a good chance to look at the radio yet. I may leave the negative ground that way. It is charging and starting.