About a month ago the 38 started experiencing charging problem upon restart. It would charge OK when started cold but any restart during the day, even if the engine was allowed to cool would show a lack of generator output until the engine was run for a few minutes.
A couple of days ago it failed to charge at all, even cold start. Following a trouble shooting procedure recomended by someone else I pulled the Field wire from the regulator and grounded it under a mounting screw. I got in the car and started it. After letting the oil flow for a bit I ran the speed up to about highway speed and the ammeter never moved off of just above full discharge. I was told that indicated a bad generator. If the ammeter had shown a charge it would have been a bad regulator.
I turned off the key, reattached the Field wire & pulled the regulator cover. I checked the voltage at the Battery terminal with everything off & it showed 6.1 volts. I started the engine and using the idle screw ran the engine up to about highway speed. It showed about 5.9 volts then. The regulator cut-out relay was not engaged, I'm assuming because of the lack of voltage. When I manually pushed the cut-out relay to the closed position the generator started to charge and ended up charging at a 7.5 volt level.
I assume the way it's supposed to work is as the engine speed increases, the generator output increases. The voltage at the Battery terminal of the regulator increases which causes the cut-out relay to close, allowing current to flow through the regulator.
If I'm correct that all makes sense and the lack of voltage at the Battery terminal would indicate the generator is bad. What confuses me is IF the generator is bad, why does it start charging OK if the cut-out relay is closed manually? IF the generator is OK as indicated by it's ability to charge once the cut-out relay is closed, why is there a lack of voltage at the Battery terminal UNTIL the cut-out is closed manually? Electricity makes my head hurt!!! :confused: :confused: :confused:
