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Took the Packard for a nice ride on Sunday. She started right up and performed flawlessly! I was out for about 45 minutes.

Parked it in the driveway to let her cool down before putting her away. When I went to re-start her the engine would barely turn over and it seemed the battery was almost dead. After a few tries the battery was cooked... so, I hooked up my 6v jump starter.. first off, there were a few sparks when I went to attach the clips. I am 100% sure I had positive to positive and neg to neg.

After I got it hooked up I tried to turn the eninge over... nothing. And, my electric fuel pump would not switch on either... ???

Did I do any damage to the electrical system by trying to jump start it?? Is there a right and wrong way to jumo these cars????

I am thinking my initial issue is the generator is not working properly. The battery is only about 2 years old. There is a chance it is shot but I dont think so. I am going to see how it does after a few days on the trickle charger.

I will need to check out the generator to see what the issue is there... and I hope I didn't cook the electric fuel pump...

Any thoughts ??? Thanks!

Bill, sorry to hear about your misfortune. I have had my share and I am sure there is more to come. Only suggestion I have for starting the trouble shooting procedure would be to make sure your battery terminals are clean and making good contact with the cables, and that the cables are tight and clean. You may have a bad battery, and that is easy enough to have checked after charging it. On your drive, did you get any indications that the generator was not charging? Good luck, and let us know what you find.

(o[]o)

What was the ammeter indicating while you were out for your 45 minute drive? That's the major clue to the problem.

Easy enough to check the generator; briefly and temporarily ground the field terminal on the voltage regulator to ground with a short jumper wire. If the ammeter shows full or near full charge the generator is functional. Then the problem may lie with the regulator, or elsewhere.

I would recommend that you check the terminals & connections (you can use a multimeter to test voltage on battery posts, then clamps, then cables, then other end of cables...); then battery; then voltage regulator; then generator. It is no coincidence that this list starts at the cheapest/easiest fix and works up from there.

Lets do the ez things first:
Check battery voltage with a volt meter.
Check battery with a hydrometer. hydrometres are not expensive about $5 to $10.
Charge battery checking it with hydtromter and volt meter every 4 hours.

If battery checks out ok then move on to other diagnostics such as checking for bad cables and shorts in electrical system then on to generator check.

Keep us posted.

The problem with these kind of online diagnostics is that too little info is given. We do not know the history of the USE of the car prior to this problem.

Did the car run just fine BEFORE the new battery was installed???? How long did the OLD battery last??? WHY did u replace the battery?????

Quote:


The starter barely turning the engine over sound to me a lot like "heat soak". It could also be a bad starter relay or bad starter. When the relay on my '51 went bad, I had much the same symptoms, including the "sparking" in hooking up a charger. Relays on a '51 are cheap - I don't know what they would be for yours; but I offer it as a thought.

Good luck,

"The problem with these kind of online diagnostics is that too little info is given. We do not know the history of the USE of the car prior to this problem.

Did the car run just fine BEFORE the new battery was installed???? How long did the OLD battery last??? WHY did u replace the battery?????"



The car is one that is infrequently used. Once every few months. The battery was installed about a year and 1/2 ago and is always on a trickle charger. Charging / battery issues have indeed not beeen an issue until this problem.

Thank you all for the help.. I will not be able to get into the shop to play w the old girl for a few weeks... will keep you all posted.


For arguments sake.. how much is a generator rebuild and who does it?

Got this advice on checking the generator:

(will be doing this after heeding the above advice and checking the battery and rest of the system first...)

To test your generator you will need a voltmeter and a test lead.

Remove the field and armature wires from the regulator. Ground the field wire. Attach one side of the voltmeter to the armature lead and the other to ground. This is max output of the generator.

If the generator is working at a fast idle the voltmeter should begin to climb. The faster the engine rpm the higher the volts. If this happens most likely the generator is still working. If the voltmeter only reads nada
or 3-4 volts then said generator is shot.


101 Questions -

What is ment by a 'test lead'?

Where is the regulator located?

Are there only two wires attached to it (field & armature)?

How do I tell them apart?


Thanks!!!!

1. Short piece of wire, stripped for a short length at each end.

2. On the firewall.

3. No, three wires.

4. They are marked, usually BAT, ARM and FLD.

Bill, if you car has a functioning ammeter, you don't have to disconnect anything, just follow the procedure I gave you earlier in this thread. With the engine running and someone watching the ammeter, just briefly use the jumper to touch the FLD or field terminal to ground. If the ammeter jumps to full or near full charge, the generator is OK.

Sometimes the generator is marked ARM (for armature), FLD (for field) and GRD (for ground). You should find matching terminals on your voltage-current regulator.

(o[]o)