If there were no electrical loads on the system
when you pulled the battery cable, the engine should have kept running on the
generator, even at slow idle. If you have the headlights on or some
other significant load, you will need more RPM to keep the car running with the
battery disconnected. SO<> Now you know the generator is
not putting out any current. The question is why – there are
probably 50 different reasons why this could happen, but one possibility is the
generator. A another is the regulator – but before you start
throwing money at the problem by changing parts willy-nilly (known in the trade
as an “Easter egg hunt” !), take the car to a parts store or repair
shop that promises free charging system diagnosis (most will do this now), and
find out exactly what is wrong. Otherwise you might spend a lot of money
and still not fix the problem. Even if it is the generator; there is a
long list of reasons why that might be – such as someone having put the
battery in backwards, upsetting the polarity of the generator; it could
be that all it needs is to be re-polarized, which is free and simple to
do. These are all “if”s – you can go on like this for a
long time without getting to the real answer until you finally get to someone
who knows what they are doing and has the right test equipment.
It ain’t rocket science, but you do
need to play with wires etc. Dick Benjamin <who earned his living
herding electrons around> From:
mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Tim Hulse Today I decided I had leaked enough power steering fluid on
the driveway and headed out to get some orings. I pulled the fluid reservoir
and replaced the 4-orings between mating surfaces. Now I have a leak free power
steering. $9.99 for oring kit at Harbor Freight. Now tell me again. With the
car running and I remove the + battery cable the car dies. Is that a faulty
regulator? The one on there is new but we all know how some times you can get a
bad one. Thanks for the advise Tim 1956 2-dr |