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Hey guys, just got my 2nd packard last week. The car has been sitting two years. Brought it home and the battery cables were hooked up backwards (neg ground) and the battery was dead. The seller didnt know much about the car and said they had taken the battery to get charged recently at a nearby auto zone. Although the cables seem to sit comfortably should I try to correct this with a new battery and switching the cables back or leave the cables neg ground. Also purchased some "stabile" fuel cleaner. I will leave my lights radio etc off. Could I potentially damage anything else slapping a new batt. in And trying to start as is? What are the best precautions? Thanks again guys.

G'day 1outta14chevys,
Congratulations on your '49 Touring Sedan and to PackardInfo. Regarding your questions, I'll leave answers to the more knowledgeable and experienced here to respond.

See you say this is your second Packard, do you still have the first one? And I invite you to include your Packard/s, if you have more than one, in the Packard Owner's Registry here on PackardInfo!

I'll leave the engine recommendations to others since some have suggestions on things to look for before starting a dormant engine.

As far as the battery being reversed, if the car is stock there will have been no damage. The exception would be if the radio vibrator was replaced with a modern solid state unit, that needs to match the polarity and could have been damaged. You can leave it or change it back to positive ground. If it was accidental and you choose to leave it then a couple of things would also need to change long term. The ammeter will read backwards unless it's wires are swapped and the coil will be more efficient if whichever polarity is ground matches the + or - of the coil terminals.

Depending on how long it has been reversed, the worst case would be the generator might have acclimated to the reversal and would not charge when changed back. It would need to be repolarized for the positive ground again. That is a simple job of using a short piece of jumper wire to connect the BAT and ARM terminals on the regulator together for a second or two.

for including your '49 Standard Eight Touring Sedan in the Registry. Replaced the pic you included with one that doesn't make my neck sore trying to look at it!

And thanks for the explanation about your first Packard.

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Awesome, that's what I figured. On my 53 clipper (sold) I had crazy charging problems, would work fine and occasionally wouldn't and couldn't find the issue. But also had a 6 to 12 volt converter which could've been the issue, either way I'm keeping the 49 without the extras and want to do things right. Thanks guys.

Let us know how it works out. One other thing is the regulator. Universals don't care so if it has been changed sometime in it's lifetime to one of those, no problem. If still the original then I don't know if the 22-3 series used one that has a positive version. If it does have one of those then that could be an issue with charging if you keep it negative ground.

Alright guys, I got the car running and jumped the arm to the batt on the regulator, the lights brighten upon acceleration, so I'm assuming the regulator had been a problem. I'm sending the gen for a rebuild and buying a new regulator. I will change it back to positive ground and hope this will be the last charging issue I have. I've yet to turn my headlights or radio on yet but hoping they're not a problem.

You are doing the right things. I did all that on my Series 23 Deluxe 8 but the charging rate was not properly adjusted. I took the Packard to an auto electrical shop and they quickly made the rgulator adjustment. The ammeter now does not peg when driving fast and it charges except at a slow idle.