After a quick call to the autoparts store to confirm that the snake's
alternator was ready, I left work a few minutes early so I could get
there before closing time. The relay I ordered was also in.
I had the alternator re-installed within a few minutes and the horn
relay in even less time. After verifying that there was no serious
current draw with everything hooked up and the ignition switch off, I
cleaned the negative battery post and ground strap lug and connected the
battery. The ignition warning light was off; so far, so good. Next I
turned the ignition switch on; still no warning light. Ooops, dead
battery again? Nope, the rest of the lights worked just dandy and the
starter cranked over the engine (which started right off) with no
problem. The ammeter needle flicked over to +30 as usual right after
starting, then settled back to the plus side of 0 after a minute or so.
Perfectly normal.
Next I tried the horn. Nothing. The horn relay wasn't the problem
after all. Could be the horn, but there weren't any relay clicking
sounds so the problem must be upstream somewhere. Well, that's a
problem for a another day and should be easy to track down. The horn
hasn't worked for several months so I can live with that annoyance a bit
longer.
Now it was time for the real test; I put the car in reverse and backed
into the street for a test drive. I didn't get 20 feet before the
familiar sputtering and lurching started again. By pumping the
accelerator pedal I was able to keep the engine from stalling and even
able to clear it up for periods, but it always came back.
Back in the driveway again I let the engine run for a while to see if
the problem occurred when the engine was not under load. It did. I
wiggling the key in the ignition switch to see if this had any effect.
It didn't seem to. The problem did re-occur a couple of times but I
couldn't associate any particular fiddling with the ignition switch to
it.
So, the erratic running problem was apparently not directly related to
the alternator problem. And now I have a non functioning ignition
warning light, which is an entirely new problem. It could just be a
burned out bulb, but I'm inclined to think it has something to do with
the solid state replacement voltage regulator I bought. I should be
able to check this theory out by temporarily reconnecting the old
electro-mechanical regulator.
I have a pretty good list of suggestions to follow up on regarding the
running problem. My plan is to start with the easy stuff and progress
as meticulously as possible to the more difficult. Thank God I won't
have any emission crap to contend with.
Roland
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