The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay WHAT "S GOING ON?

I have a '64 K10 'Burb, with a 350. I only drive it about once a week. 2 months ago it wouldn't turnover. I jump started it. 2 weeks ago I had a new battery, starter and alternator put in. I had the work done, because it was too cold to do outside. Then, when I was driving the truck, I noticed the gauge that shows discharge or charge was maxed out to the charge side when I was driving. Also the clock on the CD player would be out when driving, but on when idling. When the mechanic put his machine (?) on the battery, it showed 18 volts, so they installed a new voltage regulator. Drove it one time, it was fine. Yesterday, turned the key nothing. Jump started it. Drove it again for about 10 minutes. Gauge maxed out to charge side and clock on CD player not ilumunated. Went to Carquest, guy checked battery said charge was way down, but only 13 volts getting to battery. Awhile back, I cut the antenna wire that goes to the antenna so that I could replace the broken antenna. But, I did not plug the new antenna into the CD player. Could that have anything to do with my problem, or is somethingelse going on? I asked the mechanic at work ( before getting the new voltage regulator) if driving the truck with a bad voltage regulator would have done any harm? He said probably not.

driving a vehicle putting out 18 volts when the accessorys are designed for 12 volt (13.8) could seriously affect lifespan of your accessories. Your cd player may have overload protection so the display will turn itself out. did the mechanic load test the battery when he tested voltage in. ? sometimes a battery will be bad from new. I don't know about generators but when we have bad batterys at work the volt gauge will show high charging rate at all times when running as the alternator will try to charge the battery with the bad cell. and the battery with the bad cell will drain the others as we have 3 or 4 hooked together.

here's a another thing to try i seen a few times
disconnect the cables from the battery put a 12 volt bulb between the pos post and cable if the bulb glows the battery case is leaking to ground
a small volt meter also works for this if no luck replace nev cable place voltmeter between the pos cable and look for a voltage draw if you have one you can find out where by pulling one fuse a time until meter shows no thing on it (pull fuse for the cd player first as it like clocks will have a small current draw
good luck
harvey41

I take it it,s an external regulator. Your regulator is probably not grounded good. There is a hole on the side of the reg. base for this. Put a metal screw in this hole & connect a wire from there to the groung term. on the alt.