Folks-
Yesterday the ignition light suddenly went on while driving and the
voltage guage reading 11+ . I thought the alternator was shot, though it
was only about 500 miles/1 year old. I drove about a mile and shut it
down ( at my office fortunately).
I changed out the alternator to another one I had, which I had taken out
because it seemed weak, not because it was absolutely not working.
No difference-ignition light on, volt guage 11 ish.
Today I put the multimeter on the battery without car on and I am
getting 12 + volts.
I removed the alternator plug, started the car and put the multimeter on
the live terminal of the alternator and it read somewhere around 17
volts output. That seems to mean its putting out plenty of electricity.
I plugged it back in and let the car idle for about 20 minutes. I put
the multimeter on the battery with the engine running every 5 minutes or
so and there was no discernable drop in voltage ( it read between 11.95
and 11.93 volts). I would think idling the car this long on battery
would kill the battery-and this one has to be at least 8 years old. So I
got thinking maybe the alternator was keeping the battery charged just
fine and maybe there was some other problem in the wiring. I had
dissected the dashboard some months ago and I wonder if a wire in the
ignition-voltmeter-battery circuit came loose or got grounded somehow
which is giving the false reading of the light and guage. But the
strange part is that if I remove the ground wire from the neg terminal
of the battery, the car shuts down, which would then seem to indicate
that in fact it is not charging. Or there is some freak thing happening
to the wiring in the dash.
Anyone have any ideas before I have it towed home? I've been through the
TR6 Electrical Manual and all it says to me is if the ignition light is
on, then its not charging.
Thanks for any help.
Keith
74 TR6
=== This list supported in part by The Vintage Triumph Register
=== http://www.vtr.org
|