The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Symptoms of a 6V Generator needing Polarized?

Hello all. I have overhauled an engine in a 49 3800 that is all stock equipment.

I am running into some issues and I have traced down many different possible causes and I am not finding anything definative.

I would like to hear some symtoms what a generator/truck would do when the generator needs to be polarized.
for your information the truck has an overhauled starter and generator(they were stored for almost a year). new condenser, coil, wires, plugs, battery, wiring harness, ignition switch(old one literally fell into two pieces) but it has the original voltage regulator, ammmeter. The engine starts, runs about 15 seconds, then the needle on the ammeter starts to drop into the deep end of the negative side, the truck stumbles and dies. Contacts on the points are clean and filed with points file. the Dwell reads around 21. Timing set to the ball with idle at 525-550ish.

Is this a sign of needing polarized?

Kind of curious on this one as I have never run into it before, other than when the condenser is in need of replacement, and I have tried two different new ones here.

Thanks,
Sam

When an "overhauled" generator is installed it needs to be polarized.

It appears a dead battery is what is causing the truck to die.

Charge the battery, polarize the generator and try again.

Thanks, will do

Ok, charged battery and polarized and it runs like a top. The charging rate at idle is still very deep in discharge, however, the instant you give it any throttle it comes back into charging. Drove it a few miles tonight, same route 11 months ago when it broke the rod. Thanks for all the help.