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I have my 1950 Packard at a paint shop. When they did the work they pulled the battery out. Later they put it back in and hooked it up backards (thinking it was negative ground). Does anyone know what might need checking or replacing? The engine starts, but I do not know if the charging system works. An electrical shop told me to bring them the regulator and the generator for checking, but is this all that could be bad?

Assuming you added no solid state devices, probably no harm resulted. I'm a bit unsure about the radio - hopefully it was turned off when the battery was incorrectly connected. If your ammeter indicates the charging system isn't functional, I'd just repolarize the generator and all should be OK.

If it's a stock Packard chances are there will have been no damage. Many have been accidentally or on purpose switched and I don't recall any reports of problems. If the ammeter shows a charge all is well. If no charge, I'd try the polarizing as detailed in the service manuals before taking anything to a shop.

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We discussed this recently here on the Forum and most things don't care about the polarity except the charging system.

Start with the battery disconnected:

First thing I would do is check the contacts in the regulator and make sure nothing has welded or burned up.

If all looks OK then I would first put the battery back in the proper polarity (Positive ground).

Leave one battery cable unhooked for now. Put a clip-lead as I call them from the Gen terminal to the Bat terminal on the regulator. Then touch the battery connection back on a couple of quick hits, this will polarize the generator properly (this is painless).

Remove the clip-lead!

Connect the battery and have a voltmeter across the terminals and start the engine and monitor the voltage and watch the ammeter on the dash. Voltage should pull up to about 7.3 to 7.5 for a 6 volt system. Ammeter should return to near center once the battery is re-charged.

Usually things can take a brief overload and live for another day.

Be ready to turn the engine off and pull a battery cable in case they didn't

I have seen generators just repolarize by themselves when connected backwards. The gauges work on temperature and don't care about polarity. The radio may not care. The ammeter will just read backwards. The starter doesn't care.

Check for melted wires before going forward.

Sue the guy who screwed it up :)

The schematic for the radio in my 1954 shows no polarized capacitors or any other parts anywhere on the 6 volt side. Tubes don't get hurt this is why I don't like solid state technology mixed into my obsolete cars.

Jim

To avoid this problem, I put a large label on the negative (non-ground) cable that says "Negative Post Only!" and a similar label on the battery that says "This is a positive ground car".

Cheers,

Tom

Tom, that's a good idea. Also, the (+) and (-) battery terminals are deliberately different sizes so that if the cables were more or less in position, it should become obvious that the installation was reversed.

Permit me to digress but I think it's an important point; along the same vein as your labels, I wish folks would be more attentive to putting a label on their master cylinders when they have converted to silicone brake fluid. It would make life a lot easier and more certain for folks servicing the car, and for subsequent owners.

Thanks folks. 'Marilyn' seems to have survived OK. She starts, runs, and the ammeter does what it should do.

Now I start putting her back together after painting. First thing I need are a new set of rubber step plates that go on the door sills. The paint shop pulled them and they all broke into pieces due to age. Does anyone know a source?

I believe there was a discussion a year or so ago where it was mentioned the rubber plates were reproduced by a region several years back and were at the time almost gone. I think the gist of that discussion was a vendor - packards1, I think - still had a set and was offering to deliver to Hershey if the buyer wanted them.

On Kanters website under 40-50 parts, Group 30.8005, he has this notation: 30.8105 Door sill rubber step plate set, 1942-47 Clipper, 1948-50 INQUIRE Perhaps he still has some so it might be worth a phone call to see.

If that fails and Kanter is sold out or no other suggestions, wonder about the possibility of some being made. This company that makes running board rubber also makes specialty rubber and hard to find items. I wouldn't think those door pieces should be any worse than some he has pictured. Of course like anything specially made, the price may give palpatations.http://www.runningboardrubber.com/

Check with Packards1 from this site.

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Great instruction Jim. They should go in FAQ or someithing.

My coil says BAT and DIST, so I jumped from the BAT lead ( to the GEN terminal, see BOLD above)

Please assume I know nothing: Which is the GEN terminal? Is it the main connection from the battery where it bolts to the generator: Mine is an Auto-Lite unit. I did screw up and had the battery hooked up (correct negative ground) when I first jumped the wire from BAT on the regulator to the generator terminal. I then disconnected one of the battery leads and re-jumped. There was no spark or anything (pretty painless all right). I then reattached the other battery terminal. I cleaned the contact surtfaces to try to improve the connection for the jumper wire ends. I used no clips on the jumper lead but just freshly stripped wire.

Don't know if the polarity changed in the generator. The radio did not work before or afterwards. I have no ammeter to check the polarity. I saw nothing burned or melted anywhere.

Any Comments?