Your story reminds me of my uncles car. Uncle never could afford new or low mileage cars.
He lived 1 hour away from us. Out of desperation he called us for his charging system stopped working. I think he had a 1968 - 1969 full sized 4dr Pontiac.
I think he had a generator still. The hack he brought the car to said his external voltage regulator was missing 2 wires. Remember the electrical harness connector was sized to hold 4 wires. Though I think they used 3 wires if I remember right.
So uncle brought the car to us to look at. I saw that the connector only had 2 wires. I checked back along the harness and on top of the engine looking for disconnected wires. None found.
This Pontiac was close to being 15 years old and it looked as if nothing was changed. So I told my uncle this charging system looked original and was working with just 2 wires since it was new. I see no missing wires.
I said let me see if I can find out. Now at that time I was going to the GM Training Center in Tarrytown. So while there I found the AC Delco instructor. Right away he knew what I was talking about.
He pulled out a 4 page instructional booklet and said for a short while the cars with an ammeter only had 2 wires running to the external voltage regulator. Then he showed me how that system was full field tested.
Regulator tested bad. I put in a new GM regulator at the mechanics/employee price 10% above cost.
Jeffrey
Last edited by 32vld; 07/13/2015 1:40 PM.
