Update:
I crawled around on the truck and got the following info on the altenator. Delco Remy 1102473 55A. I assume that is a 55 amp altenator. It has a 2 prong connector (--)on the side with a heavy red wire and a smaller black wire. There is also a bolt on the back with a heavy red wire on it. I'm not positive on the color of the wire on the bolt. I'm partly color blind so picking out colors (especially red/green) in the low light of a drop light is challenging. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it was red.
First I disconnected the power to the distributor and cranked the truck for 5-8 seconds. Absolutely no movement on the ammeter.
I then decided to check the voltage at the following locations:
a. on the battery, one terminal to the other
b. on the battery, positive terminal to chassis ground.
c. on the alternator: bolt post to chassis ground
d. Alternator: red wire on connector to chassis ground
e. firewall mounted voltage regulator "batt" connector to chassis ground.
I started with the vehicle off with no electrical components turned on. This was after the initial no-spark crank to check if the ammeter moved, so there may have been a slight drain on the battery to begin with. The following are the results:
a. 12.40
b. 12.46
c. 12.48
d. 12.48
e. 12.48
Next I started the truck (again no movement of the gauge during crank/startup) and ran it with no electrical components on. Gauge held steady at TDC the whole time.
a. 14.62
b. 14.70
c. 14.82
d. 14.77
e. 14.75
I than turned on the high beam lights, the and the fog lights. I didn't think to turn on the electric wipers. As I turned on the lights the ammeter dipped toward discharge. When everything was on, the needle was down around 1/4 tank towards discharge. It moved down incrementally as the electric components were turned on. It stayed steady and didn't recover at all until I powered off the electrical items. When everything was powered off the ammeter immediately returned to TDC. The voltage readings were:
a. 14.52
b. 14.53
c. 14.55
d. 14.65
e. 14.20
Finally I shut the truck off after having run it for 15-20 minutes with varying electrical loads on it. The final readings were:
a. 13.00
b. 12.97
c. 12.92
d. 12.92
e. 12.91
So what does all that mean?? The pre-start volts looked good and were consistent across the board. During operation the voltage remained constant on all readings regardless of the load on the system. Following a 20 minute run the shut down volts were slightly higher than the pre-start.
My deduction is that there may be an issue in the gauge. Am I tracking???
What's next??
