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the thing I'm refereing too is the voltage regulater on the firewall on my 59 GMC stepside,I still have a genrator,all original,and hasent run in 20 odd years 6 cyl,i have power to the front lights(only high beams) and no power to the rear,no turn signals and rear brakes,the truck runs great now but no elevtrical as I stated, I have power at the brake switch and power at the fuse box,I fiddled with the adjustement at this regulator and was wondrering if i had the proper adjustement?you know the one screw that is revers thread....to send power to the bottom part of the unit i don't have a manual yet but have a copy of the electrical diagram with color codes,when the engine is running is it suppsed to click power to the bottom of it? can some one e-mail me the sectiomn of info I need?help me please o wise boltmasters!!!

ya mean the voltage regulator? don't wanna 'fiddle' that adjustment, got nuttin to do w/ where the juice gets sent - has to do w/ regulating generator output so ya don't run down or explode the battery! - you've got wiring problems, maybe at the connector under the cab, and maybe a bad dimmer switch or headlight bucket wire problems

start w/ continuity checking the wiring, especially from the brake light sw to the tailend, and make sure you've got a good ground at the tail lites, good tail lite cockets, and of course, good bulbs! then make sure the brake light sw is actually makeing contact when switched - brake light problems can also be troubles w/ the turn sig wiring

good luck!! sometimes it's easiest to replace the wireing in these ol things, after 40 years of folks patching and fiddleing it

Bill

thank you will try that and get back to you.ive done most of what you said I just dont have power coming out of the regulator

On something that old, rust is going to be your worst problem. To aid in trouble shooting, get you a 20 foot long, 14 gauge wire and hook it right to the ground terminal on the battery. Use this wire for a testing and not the frame or body. With out a ground nothing will work, and if you don't know if its a lack of ground or power, it makes for some long days. Get you a cheap test light or make your own. Have it hooked to the test wire at all times. If you have positive power at the light fixture and a good known bulb, it should light up when touched with the ground wire.
If you think about all the connections tail lights have to go through, you will start to understand the rust problem. For example, battery to frame, frame to bed hold down bolts, bolts to bed itself, bed to tail light bracket , light bracket to light housing, housing to socket, socket to bulb base. And thats just the negative side!

Listen to Bill in the above post, don't mess with the regulator with out a volt meter and a good understanding of how they work. In short, the regulator supplies the proper voltage to the battery, to much or to little can be deadly to the battery.

You may want to look in to a new wire harness, they are not that costly and can save you a lot of problems. They are easy to swap out if you get one for your make and model. Joe

Thank you very much joe,shall order a new harness next month along with the body patches needed to restore the cab.

Andre, If you have factory turn signals you might check the switch in there. I think the brakes and turn signals are both through this switch.

first off----HOWDY!!! ok, on to business. as i remember the 59 had self cancelling turn signals. good place to start if there's a turn signal/ brake light issue. next headlights. i would squint real hard at the dimmer (after i made sure the bulbs were good.).

here's good advise that ya ought to remember for life. IT'S THE GROUND THAT WILL DRIVE YA CRAZY!!!! as i remember you have an issue with rust....lessee, what will THAT do to a ground???

several years ago a guy i knew was going crazy trying to get several electrical things working on his nova. the let taillight would go out when he applied the brake, and the light in the radio would go dim and the radio would make a constant fart noise when the wipers were turned on.

nothing worked as it was suppose to.

he brought the car to me, and told me that nothing worked right since they installed a smallblock and tossed the 6 banger. i installed a ground strap to the body from the engine. problem solved. test whatever is not working first. isolate it and one at a time check it. then start checking for bad grounds after making sure ya got power.

oh yeah. the reason there's a cover on the regulator is to keep out the elements, and little fingers.

Thank you Kopolkar I will put a strap on the block and replace all the wiring from the switch back,and i didn't play with the regulator ,and i put the cover back on.... thanks again koolkar,keep in touch,have a nice week.

jmoor ,I have no power at the turn signal switch,just the horn which runs seprate i believe,evrything in the cab works,heater,dashlights,???????!!!!!????

Check for power comeing off the flasher & power to the flasher. If none check fuses.You should also have power at the turn switch when you step on the brake.

I HAVE POWER AT THE FUYSE BLOCK BUT NO POWER AT THE TURN SIGNAL,MY GENERATOR IS NOT PUTTING OUT ANYTHING,ISN'T THERE SUPPSED TO BE POWER COMMING OUT ALL THE TIME :confused:

is the battery going dead? how are you checking that there's no "power coming out"? the regulator controls the output of the generator to the battery - the battery is what supplies the power you're [not] getting where it's needed - don't get fixated on the generating system unless you're getting a dead battery - your problem sounds very much like the normal hash wiring these things get over the years, and if any electrical stuff works, the part that doesn't is because the juice isn't getting to it from the battery

if there's juice at the fuses, and none at the signal assy [on the column], you've got a bad connection between the fuse panel and the signal assy, possibly at the key switch, where there should be a connection like "acc" that prevents the signals working unless the key is on - I don't think the signals are shown on the standard wiring diag, as they were optional, and prolly not the fuse panel either, as it was not installed on many 'basic' trucks - if you've got factory signals here's the RPO installation sheet [3 pages] for how the wiring should be - doesn't show the actual wire diag, and note there's no fuse panel shown - are you sure your signals are seperately fused? might count on the fuse for the lights

if yer gonna get a new harness, don't beat yer head against the wall, as the new wireing [properly installed!] will fix'er all up!
and maybe you've got a bad flasher?

Bill

I think I'm suffering from iwannadrivitiss I'll go see the doc.It's just that it's part insanity, part trying to figure this thing out,i'm goona drive it out of the one car shed and park my new truck in the warmth until i get the harness or if I decide to do the frame off as soon as I get back from back surgery in iowa.I got evan a little nuttier and boughtv another truck( with less rust) but with alot of chrome so I will probably butcher this on to fix the other.I 'm a little undecided hate to see it done, it is still salvagable ,i did put a new flasher and and did what i could,my mechanical back ground is Jhon Deer technician (3yrs)truck and trailer mechanic(still have nightmares of the clutch jobs,)aircraft technicians diploma in 2000,(dont worry i dont work on planes) and i think i'll wait untill my manual arrives so that i can kind of figure tese things out on my own,diagnosing problems on these things is hard enough when your at the location of the truck nevermind a few miles down the road. I'll invest in a torch and (SOB) put her down.

hahahahaha - sounds like ya got the disease fer sure!
go slow w/ the 2 trucks and you'll wind up w/ a good truck to drive, and a 'workable' truck for the future, or to sell and recoup a bit of the investment
get that back in shape so you can wrestle the new harness in under the dash, and the brain fog will clear right out - the shop manual is a great help too!

Bill

OH yea thanks for the electrical print out I will study it and now I can get the truck back in the garage,much to my wifes dismay!!!you guys are the best,if you need any thing from a 58 let me know ,and wow you have a beeeeeutifull truck!I just posted a couple more on my webshot