Dan Masters writes:
There are two ways for the voltage to be low:
1) the wire from the bulb to the alternator could have a "partial" ground --
not enough to make smoke, but enough to keep the bulb lit.........
I had a similar problem last year.
FIRST look at the fitting that holds the alternator warning bulb in the
dash. After 25 years the plastic has a tendency to crack allowing the bulb
holder to ground out. The outside surface of the bulb connector goes to the
alternator effectively grounding the field windings. As a result you get no
voltage from the alternator and no smoke. On the other side of the circuit
the bulb is connected to positive voltage, the net result is the bulb is
always lit and since we have a resistive load (the bulb) again no smoke.
If you remove the bulb holder from the dash and the light goes out you
immediately know where the problem is.
Hope this helps
Lee
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