hello trying to get some feedback on my 73 mustang 351 cleveland i am having (what i think is an electrial proublem when the car is running with nothing turned on i am reading 14 volts(that is great) the when i turn on the headlighs the volts drop to aroung 13-12 volts(not too bad) then with the headlights still on when i turn on the fan motor (for the a/c or heater) the volts now drop to 10.5-11 this seems really low the voltage regulator and battery are brand new...when i turn off the heater or headlights the volts then return to 14 volts just wondering what i could look for or try...also on the stater relay(on the passengerside fender) there is a small(fuse or relay)attached to the starter relay post can anyone tell me what that controlls thanks rick at [email protected]
electrical proublems
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Okay; based on lots of past bad experiences:
Alternator Belt tension - yeah, I know, but it kicked my butt once..... The original alternators were pretty "weak" and would drag down under a load. Belt starts slipping and you've lost the charging capacity. (Only happened to me once; but (or maybe "because of that") I changed out practically everything before doing the belt (when I installed the rebuilt alternator I bought with the last of a paycheck)
Alternator diode pack going out. A good way to check this: Kick your radio over to AM and tune to a weak station. Do you hear a "ringing" sound? If you do, it's the rectifier diodes.
Old mechanical (relays) regulator - internal contacts corroded/burnt/sticky: Yeah, my personal favorite. Rarely kept an "older" Ford more than 6 months before sticking in an after-market solid-state regulator.
Did I mention that I'm a "radio geek"? Back in the CB days; I had gear in the Gran Torino and later the F100 that drew many more amperes than the average autosound system that you'd find in a Honda at any recent "tunerzzz show". (I also burnt down quite a few CB antennas and drove the cable TV guys crazy during that period of my life). Often, the "stoplight burnouts" were just to spin the alternator up to pump some juice back into the battery so my turn signals would flash!
What I would have given for a 2 Farad Capacitor back then.......
Alternator Belt tension - yeah, I know, but it kicked my butt once..... The original alternators were pretty "weak" and would drag down under a load. Belt starts slipping and you've lost the charging capacity. (Only happened to me once; but (or maybe "because of that") I changed out practically everything before doing the belt (when I installed the rebuilt alternator I bought with the last of a paycheck)
Alternator diode pack going out. A good way to check this: Kick your radio over to AM and tune to a weak station. Do you hear a "ringing" sound? If you do, it's the rectifier diodes.
Old mechanical (relays) regulator - internal contacts corroded/burnt/sticky: Yeah, my personal favorite. Rarely kept an "older" Ford more than 6 months before sticking in an after-market solid-state regulator.
Did I mention that I'm a "radio geek"? Back in the CB days; I had gear in the Gran Torino and later the F100 that drew many more amperes than the average autosound system that you'd find in a Honda at any recent "tunerzzz show". (I also burnt down quite a few CB antennas and drove the cable TV guys crazy during that period of my life). Often, the "stoplight burnouts" were just to spin the alternator up to pump some juice back into the battery so my turn signals would flash!
What I would have given for a 2 Farad Capacitor back then.......Similar threads
