[Ehans]

Been hunting forums for a solid 3 weeks and am just lacking enough knowledge to find my culprit. If I missed a thread please let me know, hate to double up questions.
1. Battery died, went to jump, reverse polarized battery. As that happened I heard a sizzle and a small pop ( all within 2 seconds of disconnecting the jumper cables) after realizing my stupid mistake.
2. Replaced battery. All worked fine for 2 days. After letting sit for 2 days battery completely dead. Trickle charged started right up, drove again for a day or 2 then sit for 2 days- completely dead.
3. Upon the second finding of the dead battery, there was battery acid on the floor. Battery has been leaking.
4. Trickle charged again and disconnected negative terminal, battery held full charge for 4 days. ( I have warranty but don't want to replace battery until I find issue)
5. Reconnected battery, Disconnect horn relay to find parasitic drain, battery died in 2 days.
6. Recharged, disconnected all alternator points and regulator plug, battery did not drain.
7. Replaced alternator and ext. reg. Vr715. Check ohms from blue @Reg to blue at alt. Ok. Check alternator bat to positive terminal. Ok. Tried the tests in the forums to test at regulator plug and could not get solidified readings (may need help with that new to utilizing meters)
8. With replacements in reading off battery is 12.38 same off alternator bat wire. Rev'd engine no change. All accessories on slight decrease but same readings on both.
9.ohm'd + battery to horn relay, ok. Horn relay to bat cord on alt. Ok
Bat alt to + term. Ok
10. Regulator is grounded, battery is grounded.
11. I have tried the jumper from F to 3 on the reg with no avail!?

I have seen if the gen bulb is burnt out that this could cause the system to operate incorrectly. How to I find if the bulb is burnt without taking dash off? I have never seen this lit even when just run radio with car off.

Could this be a fusible link I heard burn up? But how can I be running?

When running with old alt, gauges lit up brighter when on gas. Haven't driven with new alt, don't want to damage...

Side notes: my turn signal is operational but limp. I have to hold to operate and recently when I was using it the horn would honk as well. (Why I unconnected horn relay to see if drain was from there.)

1967 Chevelle SS
1971 402 BBC

I may need infantile instructions for any meter testing as I want to ensure I am not miss testing. I don't have confidence in my meter readings as I am unsure if I am testing correctly

Thanks in advanced. Never worked on a car before this and enjoying it, just wish I could drive the damned thing too!

 

[66partspile]

just so you don't waste your time, ive never seen a 67 with fusible links.

 

[JWagner]

Maybe cleaning the connections on the alternator and the voltage regulator plugs could help.

 

[Ehans]

I will be replacing all spade terminals on the regulator plug and the alternator plug. I plan on replacing the splice off the + side battery terminal as it has a crimp prior to the junction, no real good reason to replace except it looks old and suspect. Still have SLIGHT battery drain in 24 hours I have dropped from 12.32v to 12.24v MUCH slower than the previous drain. Seems like even if I get the alternator charging I will still need to change gears and find my parasitic drain. (fingers crossed that this is the battery as it has leaked and could be a little faulty)

*can a faulty fuse connection be causing my drain? Could it also cause my charging issue?

 

[Dean]

Had a similar happening one time with a friend's 67.

Turned out that the orange wire in the voltage regulator plug was dead.
I spliced in a new fusible link which fixed the problem.
(that orange wire appeared to be what looked to me like a fusible link wire)

Anyway, you might pull the four wire plug from the voltage regulator and test the orange wire for voltage.

 

[Ehans]

Had a similar happening one time with a friend's 67.

Turned out that the orange wire in the voltage regulator plug was dead.
I spliced in a new fusible link which fixed the problem.
(that orange wire appeared to be what looked to me like a fusible link wire)

Anyway, you might pull the four wire plug from the voltage regulator and test the orange wire for voltage.

In essence, I could be getting power to my horn relay because the 10R is OK to the horn relay, and I could be getting voltage to my alternator because that 10r is OK to the Batt. Alt stud, but the 20 OR (tagged in the drawing) is what you suggest replacing as there is no power getting to the regulator. I will look into this tonight, Thanks Dean.

 

[Kirk's67SS]

I agree with Dean's idea
and you have to find out why you are not getting a Reading of it Charging of 13+

I had a problem of my Battery draining too, where it would not start after 2 to 3 days sitting

Checked everything including the Internal Reg. Alternator which showed it Charging at 13+,
bought a new Battery / Reverse Lights system hooked upto the Trans Shifter

Ended putting a Battery Terminal Disconnect Switch on the Neg Post of the Battery
for when I am not driving it I just loosen it up and it disconnects the Battery Power to the car
JEGS Battery Terminal Disconnect Switch | JEGS High Performance

JEGS Performance Products 10320 : Battery Terminal Disconnect Top Mount | JEGS

 

[Ehans]

I agree with Dean's idea
and you have to find out why you are not getting a Reading of it Charging of 13+

I had a problem of my Battery draining too, where it would not start after 2 to 3 days sitting

Checked everything including the Internal Reg. Alternator which showed it Charging at 13+,
bought a new Battery / Reverse Lights system hooked upto the Trans Shifter

Ended putting a Battery Terminal Disconnect Switch on the Neg Post of the Battery
for when I am not driving it I just loosen it up and it disconnects the Battery Power to the car

Did the reverse lights system rectify the issue? I do have a quick disconnect which has been used to keep a charge while troubleshooting. As for finding the reason I am not getting a charge, I am hoping the 20 OR is my culprit.

I need to Ohm out the White wire from back of alternator to plug, realized I have not done so.

 

[Kirk's67SS]

Did the reverse lights system rectify the issue? I do have a quick disconnect which has been used to keep a charge while troubleshooting. As for finding the reason I am not getting a charge, I am hoping the 20 OR is my culprit.

I need to Ohm out the White wire from back of alternator to plug, realized I have not done so.

No

That is why I went to / put on the Quick Disconnect

Nothing we did / investigated showed or pointed to the culprit

 

[Ehans]

3 hours tonight did not show much...
Replaced all the regulator spades. Replaced the 20 orange from the 10red. cleaned the horn hot leads. Cleaned the battery junction. Replaced the splice between the battery and junction box that was suspect. Cut and re-stripped the ground and positive battery terminals. Battery was at 12.22 volts and when idling was reading 12.38v. Same on back of alt. I swapped the alternator wires on the Back and the battery read 12.05 while
Idling.

Next steps.
When I unplugged the factory regulator plug, the brown was in the f spot and the blue was in the 4... Not sure of the wiring is all swapped around due to the later year motor and whomever wired up the harness. I will
Be swapping those 2 to see if that is how it is wired.

Did not have any help for reading the meter, so will need some help as all my readings were at idle or shortly after I ramped it up
And hopped out to try and get a reading.

There is a grounding stud on the back of the alternator that was not on my old one. Testing the case it seems grounded but once I was idling it did not ohm to ground as quickly. I may try to ground the stud to the battery and see if that changes anything.

I know I need more than 12.38 when idling. If I had 13 I would consider the matter over.

Any thoughts would be great, we got 1 month left on Iowa to drive!!

 

[Kirk's67SS]

Do not know if you have this or applies

 

[Ehans]

Do not know if you have this or applies

Not quite sure how I feel about that... Not how my system was set up.
I will have to look into the prints for the indicator light, as it is still non existent.

 

[wihaltom]

Would it be possible for you to wire in an aftermarket ammeter in the circuit between the alternator and the battery to show whether the system is charging or not.
Nothing fancy.
Just a little ammeter you could wire in and get a visual indication of charge/discharge.
Then you could remove it when the testing is done.
Sometimes, a simple indicator helps a lot.

 

[65chevelle300post]

Do not know if you have this or applies

This would be the connection method for the one wire alternator. If you didn't have a Gen light then that wire would go to an ignition fused source and used as an excite wire. The sensor wire connects to the charge wire which then reads the voltage from the end of the charge wire.

 

[Kirk's67SS]

I have that pic as a 3 Wire Hookup

Here is the one I have as a 1 Wire Hookup

 

[Ehans]

Would it be possible for you to wire in an aftermarket ammeter in the circuit between the alternator and the battery to show whether the system is charging or not.
Nothing fancy.
Just a little ammeter you could wire in and get a visual indication of charge/discharge.
Then you could remove it when the testing is done.
Sometimes, a simple indicator helps a lot.

Can I use my multi-meter to test for amperage output? Part of me wants to say yes, the other part wants to say no, thinking that voltage could burn my meter up? I will not do so until I get some clarification on that.

I have a 3 wire alternator with the VR715 external regulator. I picked up a refurbished alternator from Auto-zone when I went to get the regulator, only as a 2 month fix until I have time to pull a new harness and purchase a quality alternator with no fears of shorting.

I will be grounding the alternator to the battery today to take that out of the question.

I will also be trying the full-field today. May try to run through the regulator tests that is passed around the forum in reference to this issues, now that all my spades are replaced.

If there are any other checks anyone can think of lay them on me.

 

[Pioneer4x4]

Here is how I did my wiring when I put a 1990ish alternator on when I did my serpentine swap. I may change the voltage sense wire to the original wire and jumper that at the old external regulator harness as well. Now I see they actually sell premade jumpers for that purpose.

My battery no longer drains after sitting for a week or so, and charging seems better. Voltmeter doesn't fluctuate near as much with brake light and turn signal use.

 

[Ehans]

Here is how I did my wiring when I put a 1990ish alternator on when I did my serpentine swap. I may change the voltage sense wire to the original wire and jumper that at the old external regulator harness as well. Now I see they actually sell premade jumpers for that purpose.

My battery no longer drains after sitting for a week or so, and charging seems better. Voltmeter doesn't fluctuate near as much with brake light and turn signal use.

So this is on a internally regulated alternator it seems? As I have an external.

 

[Pioneer4x4]

So this is on a internally regulated alternator it seems? As I have an external.

AH, sorry, I mis-read, my fault. Yes I bypassed the external regulator. I would try testing the regulator some more. I'll re-read more carefully and see what else I missed.

 

[65chevelle300post]

The one wire alternators will work with only one wire connected but they work best with three wires as shown in your first schematic. With three wires you can use the #2 sensor wire to detect voltage where the charge wire connects to the positive junction and you can use the #1 wire for Generator light functionality.

In order to use an internally regulated alternator with the original wiring you will want to use the following diagram.