The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay No Start

Hello,

I have a 1946 Chevy Stylemaster Sedan, all original with the 216 and a generator (6v system). I really like the car so it recently became my daily driver as I have no desire to drive my other car. Over the past week I have noticed that it is becoming harder and harder to start the car. When I turn it over to start it, it seems like the battery has less and less power every morning. If I shut it while it is warm, and try to restart it, it also struggles. I originally thought it was just heat soaking, but there is no excuse for the hard start every morning. The ammeter is center between discharge---charge. Today, there was no hard start... it became a no start.

What are your thoughts? I drive it about 30-50 miles a day 3-5 days a week.

DG

OK so starter motor runs
starter solenoid works
what is battery voltage when at high speed idle say 1500 RPM
IF around 7 to maybe 7.5 you are charging battery. If that is teh case then try a spare battery - maybe it is at end of life. If no joy then get out VOM and check volts to ground from neg and to starter motor terminal from pos when cranking. In either case you should get only about 1 volt at most. (assuming neg ground)


Dan Bentler

6 volt starting sytems absolutely MUST have clean, tight connections everywhere. Start with both battery cable terminals- - - -remove the terminals and give the battery posts a thorough scrubbing with a wire brush, then get yourself a "battery terminal cleaner" with a round brush the right size to fit inside the cable ends, and scrub them bright and shiny. Bolt everything back together tightly, and spread a little wheel bearing grease on the terminals to prevent corrosion. Do the disconnect, clean, and reinstall procedure on every cable connection between the battery and the starter, on both hot and ground sides. Voltage drop between the terminals should be no more than 1/10 volt for each connection. With the starter running, the battery terminal voltage should not drop below approximately 4.5 volts. The ammeter needle should go about halfway between center and the + side immediately after starting, and slowly move back toward center after several miles of driving. If it's staying centered even after starting, you've got generator or regulator problems.
Jerry

Get a good test on the battery. Sounds like the bat is going bad.

After you start it and drive a little, the initial charge rate should show up on the ammeter. After a few minute of driving, it should move to barely charging at speed, about a needle width past center. If the needle is sitting in the center while driving, it is not charging the battery.

Ok,

I did a little testing with my DVOM today.

Volts at the battery: 6.1

Volts at on terminal of the generator 4.0

Volts at the other terminal of the generator: 6.0

All testing done at 2000+ RPM

I am guessing I need a generator???????????????

DG

Long time back I changed my coupe over to an 8 volt battery, cranked better and lights etc are fine with 8v. Now the car has been converted to 12 volts, not hard to do and I have no starting trouble.

The generator probably can be repaired. It may only need brushes, but rebuilding is a better choice. Before you take anything apart, connect a wire from the generator Field terminal to a good ground and run the engine. If the voltage comes up and the ammeter shows a charge, the trouble is with the voltage regulator or wiring, but likely the regulator. That also may be adjustable to correct the trouble. No increase in voltage with the field grounded indicates the generator needs repair. If the generator was working in the recent past, it may only need brushes- a pretty easy repair.

Harvester

I will add to the suggestions in the above post.

Ground the field at the generator and measure the voltage at the generator. If the voltage doesn't increase, you have a generator problem. If it is up, then see if it charging. If it is, try grounding the field at the regulator. If it then fails after passing ther previous test, there is a wiring problem between the generator and the regulator. If it passes but doesn't charge with the jumper off, there is a problem involving ther regulator.

Thanks for the info guys.

I am not going to lie and tell you I am sure exactly what terminal you are referring to but I will crack open my service manual tomorrow and figure it out. There are 2 leads coming out of the generator.... and IF i remember correctly 3 (I think) coming out of the voltage regulator. I found a local place that deals with automotive electrical components but it sounds a little sketchy over the phone and I have a feeling it is going to cost me an arm.... maybe even a leg too... so I am inclined to fix this problem myself.

DG

Danspeed1,
on the generator there are two terminals. One is labeled "A" for armature and the other is labeled "F" for field. If I remember correctly, the armature has the heavier lead because it carries all the charging current. On the regulator you will have a battery terminal, field terminal and generator terminal.

I hope that this helps.

Ok, I did some testing... this is what I found.

When I ground the Field on the voltage regulator, voltage goes up to about 7.2Volts on my DVOM

When I ground the Field on the Generator, the voltage also went up to 7.0 volts

When I sent a wire from the field on the generator to the field on the voltage regulator... nothing happened... no increase or decrease in volts...

Now what?

DG

One more quick update:

I decided to play with the points on the Regulator, only the ones that are part of the "Field" Wire, not the battery ones

I tried adjusting the air gap and that didn't work. I pushed the points pretty much together, and while running the car is charging at 6.8V. If I put the lights on, the needle dives down to discharge and then creeps back up to charge again. I know someone mentioned that my discharge----charge needle should be in the center of the gauge however, it is point to charge. I read volts at about 6.5 at idle, and 6.8-6.9 at 3000RPM with the lights on. Is this ok or am i headed for some sort of disaster?

DG