Electrical short/charge issue.

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R

RHON

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Oct 11, 2006
Threads
39
Messages
204
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
A couple years back before I parked my truck,I replaced the alternator- it was not the correct one, the connector has a three terminal plug that ( if you push connecter onto the alternator without using youir brain), will fit, they gave me an option of three different alternators for the '81 model, i've replaced it ( green plug type), along with the regulator (twice),Anyway all this gave the truck a power drain somewhere in the system when parked and the alternator will stop charging sometimes , it seems random without any consitantsy, one of the last times this happened I was miles from home and ran off the battery until it died, after just a connect to another battery it acted just fine like nothing ever happened to it-pretty bizzar stuff but I can't nail down where the problem is-Can anyone give me an idea where this gremlin is lurking in my electrical system?.....I know logic says it's the regulator but it seems to check out okay. i'm frustrated, the truck is not being driven rite now as i'm making a lot of improvements on it and won't be done for a while and I Really would hate to take it to any shop for evaluation.:confused:
 
If you want to find the cause of the drain, get a DMM, set it to measure current (amps), and connect it in series with the positive battery cable (engine and all accessories off).

Normal drain with all off should be less than 50mA typically, as there is some constant drain from the memory for the stereo, etc.

If it is higher start pulling fuses until it drops, then get a wiring diagram so you know what is powered by that fuse, and go from there.

I had a similar problem with my Maxima once, and still had a 1 Amp or so drain with every fuse out. I then disconnecetd the alternator output wire it it was gone. One of the diodes in the diode-tri in the alt was bad.
 
Thanks for the input, it's a real weird thing that's happening. I looked at a hanes manual at the wireing diagam, there are a couple of diodes that i was thinking could be at fault, someone sudgested it was the charge lite relay-that turned out to be a waste of cash-it sometimes makes a buzzing noise before the charge lite comes on.
When I get a little time i'll try the fuse method you've sudgested, sounds like good advice there-hopefully logic will prevail.

Thanks again.
 
OKay , thanks for pointing me in the rite direction, like you said it's probably in the alernator- I went thru the fuses like you said and after poking around found that if i disconnect the regulator from the alt. the battery does in fact stabelize.( i'll yank it off and have it checked when time permits), I'm not driving this project rite now but at least I can keep the battery hooked up for the alarm. espescialy since there is a steady flow of cash going into the old girl.:)
 
No problem, glad you're making progress.
 
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