About a month ago I was having a problem with my GEN light staying on after my '70 Malibu was turned off. After discussing the problem on here I replaced the voltage regulator and it seemed to solve the problem.....that is until I decided to turn on my headlights. When my headlights are turned off my directionals appear to operate at a normal speed. When I turn on my headlights the passenger directional appears to maintain a fairly normal speed while the driver's side slows way down. Any suggestions as to what might cause this? I already took the new voltage regulator out and sanded the spots where it attaches behind the headlights to ensure a good ground, and I also sanded and cleaned the connection where the ground wire connects to the park brake pedal bracket. Any suggestions will be much appreciated. Thanks, -Dave

find and clean the ground wires to the headlights.should be located very close to the connectors.

Those ground wires wouldn't happen to be the ones that share one of the screws that hold down the voltage regulator would they? I am only asking because I did clean those terminals before I reinstalled the voltage regualtor the second time. Here is a question though, when I reinstalled that volatage regulator I placed it directly against the metal and put those terminals on top when I put the screw back in, I assumed that was how it should be, but I figure I might as well ask. Thanks for the quick reply. -Dave

I have had two different years so far so double check me on this but, the regulator on my 67 is floating but there needs to be a ground for the relay path to flow current. Check the car schematic to see where the regulator ground is but YOU MUST HAVE A GROUND TO HAVE A COMPLETED CIRCUIT. Otherwise the unit and lights will get their ground through other circuits and it will make you crazy. Some regulators can burn up the resistor coil if you ground the regulator so be sure to check the schematic and see where the ground is supposed to go.

Good luck
Chuck

The body of the voltage regulator must be grounded to the radiator support with a wire screwed to the base of the regulator. the regulator must be mounted on the rubber inserts mounted in the radiator support. Those screws do not ground to anything. There must be a ground to the base of the regulator. There is usually a small hole in the base of the regulator to put a screw in. If not make one. It is possible you may have messed up the regulator already. The Chevelle service manual, body manual and assembly manual would be your best money spent on your chevelle you ever spend.

Thanks a lot for all the input, as always I need all the help I can get. I will have to do some more investigating, but as far as I know, the regulator on this particular car appears to ground itself where it is mounted to the radiator support behind the driver's side headlight. I am the second owner of this car, and as far as I know the voltage regulator had never been changed, so when I swapped the old one out for the new one, I just installed it the same way the old one came out. I am wondering if the original was sort of seated in well enough that it was properly grounded, but when I installed the new one it was not grounded as thoroughly and it burned it up causing my current dilemma. Like I said, I REALLY appreciate everyone's input, it just seems odd to me that the original regulator was mounted directly to the radiator support and the headlights on the driver's side of the car appeared to be grounded on one of the screws that held it down. I can definately see that a manual for the 1970 Chevelle will be one of my next purchases :thumbsup: Thanks again for all the input, and if I solve the problem I will be sure to post the solution.
-Dave

Thomas is correct on this. I have had a 67 and a 70 and they are different but both have shock mounts to prevent vibration to the relays. That should have the regulator floating above ground (not grounded). The regulator, in any case, must be grounded in order to complete the circuit. The alternator lines are controlled by the relays in the regulator but they must have a ground somewhere in order to have a complete circuit. Use a multimeter to assure that the regulator is grounded. Mine had a small wire with a ground lug and the ground symbol was shown in the chasis service manual schmatic. You don't want to count on a "touch" ground through the screws. Put a wire on there as Thomas suggests if one does not already exist.

If it is grounded and still doesn't work, come back here and we'll try something else. LOL

Chuck

Thanks a bunch, you guys are the best. Hopefully I haven't already managed to burn up the new regulator I bought, but for $15 I suppose it is a small price to pay to have everything working properly again. It really makes me wonder where the rubber gromets for mine went, because I swear they weren't there when I took the old one off. Anyway, about that grounding lug you mentioned, that isn't by any chance a little cylindrically shaped device (about 1 1/2 inches long and 3/4 inch in diameter) with a metal band around it that is mounted under one of the feet on the regulator and has a wire that conncets to a prong on the bottom of the regulator is it? Please accept my apologies for my ignorance on the subject of automotive electrical systems; I learned much of what I know about cars from my father who has worked on a lot of different cars over the years, but when it came to the electrical systems he took the "don't mess with it and hope to christ you never have to deal with that headache" approach;), so I try to avoid fussing with this sort of stuff as much as possible. Anyway, if anyone has input as to what that little cylindrical piece is and what it does, I am all ears, since I am trying to learn about this aspect of my car one piece at a time. Thanks again for the help, Dave

About a month ago I was having a problem with my GEN light staying on after my '70 Malibu was turned off. After discussing the problem on here I replaced the voltage regulator and it seemed to solve the problem..
:D

...that is until I decided to turn on my headlights. When my headlights are turned off my directionals appear to operate at a normal speed. When I turn on my headlights the passenger directional appears to maintain a fairly normal speed while the driver's side slows way down. Any suggestions as to what might cause this? I already took the new voltage regulator out and sanded the spots where it attaches behind the headlights to ensure a good ground, and I also sanded and cleaned the connection where the ground wire connects to the park brake pedal bracket. Any suggestions will be much appreciated. Thanks, -Dave
You problem could be right at the socket for signals and parking lights. The turn signals might be grounding through the parking lights, when parking lights are off, signals work fine, when headlights are on, the full ground is being lost. Look at that light (with signals on), with headlights off it should blink on and off, with headlights on it should blink bright to dim. As a test jam a wire between the bulb and the socket (don't put it in to far) connect other end to a good ground, see if signals work correctly.

That little cylinder is not a ground lug, nor ground. It is a capacitor for noise. The rubber grommets should be there. If you don`t find any, email or pm me ,I have some and will send them to you.

Thanks again for all of the help, in the end it helped solve the problem. It looks like I do need to get some rubber gromets to cushion the voltage regulator where it mounts behind the driver's side headlight since mine are aparently missing, but the problems I was experiencing were caused by a grounding issue as you all suggested. When I removed my original regulator I noticed that there were two wires connected to one of the mounting screws, I did not however take note of particular order these wires were in, and it looks like I should have. One of the wires I traced directly back to the wiring harness for the headlight nearest the grill on the drivers side, and the other fed into a group of wires that had been bundled together. It appears that the wire that was bundled with the others was my ground wire. What I did wrong was put the headlight ground in between the actual ground wire and the grounding point on the voltage regualtor, and it was causing a faulty ground for the regulator. Once I switched these wires around my problem was solved. Thanks again for all of the help, you guys are the best. -Dave