i was working on a friends fury trying to figure out why it won't charge. following the factory service manual, it says to do voltage drop tests along the circuit until you find the problem.

when you rev(2500+rpm) the engine you can see the voltage start to climb ever so slightly(tenths), so i think the alternator is good.

with the engine off and the key on, i get +/- 8.5 volts at the field terminal of the voltage regulator. the manual say it should be less than 0.55 volts. moving to the other side of the regulator i get +/- 0.32 volt. i would assume that this means that the regulator is bad, right?

the regulator is mechanical. the test above was done according to the service manual with the ballast resistor disconnected.

zedpapa

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1970 dodge dart w/225 /6 bored .040" over, holley 390cfm w/vac. sec., compcams 252s, clifford shorty headers w/2.5" exhaust w/flowmaster, f-body 11" front discs, aluminum A-833OD, 8 1/4 w/3.21 SG
soon to have 5 gears!!!

With the ignition "on", you should have line (battery) voltage at the regulator's "IGN" terminal. If you do not, there's something the matter with the wiring from the ignition switch to the regulator. With the ignition "off", there should be near-zero resistance between the end of the wire hooked to the regulator's "FLD" terminal and the other end of that same wire hooked to the alternator's "FLD" terminal. If there's any resistance to speak of, the wire's faulty. See this post for detailed function tests, and this post for voltage regulator options. Free wiring diagram for the '63 is available here.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

thank you for your quick response, Dan. the test i did required hooking the positive meter lead to the pos. battery post and using the negative to check for voltage at the field terminal of the regulator. so, i think the regualtor is causing a 8 volt drop.

there is battery voltage at the IGN terminal of the regulator.

next time i look at the car i will try the tests that you mention in your other post.

zedpapa

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1970 dodge dart w/225 /6 bored .040" over, holley 390cfm w/vac. sec., compcams 252s, clifford shorty headers w/2.5" exhaust w/flowmaster, f-body 11" front discs, aluminum A-833OD, 8 1/4 w/3.21 SG

soon to have 5 gears!!!