Charging problem

I am having a charging problem.. the guy i got it from said it was not charging..
it has a new alternator and a new voltage regulator..
the one down side of getting a old van.. someone always messes up the wiring..
i don't have a shop manual yet.. found some wiring diagrams on-line but not much help..

i have of course the main hot wire to the alt.. then there are 2 wires with the flat connectors for pos and neg feild.. not sure witch one goes where ..then there is a 4th wire thats just sitting there with no end...
dont know if it even goes to the alt..

if someone has a pic. or could take a pic of there alt wiring that would be great..
but has to be new style they used in 70 with the triangle shaped plug on the voltage regulator..

or i could just put a GM alt on it and be done with it..

That "4th wire" is probably brown or black....it's a ground. The main black (10g) wire comes off the alternator to the ammeter in the dash. Then from the ammeter is a red (10g) wire to the main lug on the starter relay (which also has the main + wire from the battery connected to it). It would be a good idea to add a fusible link in the wire from the ammeter to the starter relay.

The field wires are going to be green (or maybe yellow??) and red (or blue). These wires of course run to the VR under the dash. The red (or blue) wire is also spliced into the keyed ignition feed to the ballast resistor I believe. I don't have a schematic right in front of me.

More than likely you have a bad wire somewhere. I have 6 or 7 of these vans over the years and I generally run all new wiring through the engine compartment since usually all the original wires are baked.

have not had a chance to look at it yet..but thank you for the info..
hope to look at it Sat after work..

how hard would it be to yank the wiring harness (just in the dog house)
and redo it ?

here is a photo of the alt.. and 39 years of crud i need to clean up and replace gaskets.. i assume its the original motor..no way of knowing ...

and i don't know what is up with the wire fastened to the front of the alt..

you can easily have 2 or more problems to deal with - first 40 year old mopar wiring - clean all connections - that ammeter wiring connection is a known problem - 2nd previous owner mods - changing to a 70 and later alt and voltage reg if not done correctly could provide problems - while both alt are dual field the pre 70 have a internal ground on one of the alt fields - if you have the triangular plug on the voltage reg it sounds like that is the correct one for a 70 and later - you can get electronic vr types for pre 70 but it has the same type connection as the mechanical - follow donivan and nate info - redoing the wiring in the doghouse is a great idea - but do your home work first - while you are at it do you want to wire for electronic ignition? hei prehaps? - http://slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15779
while this is for a 6 same applies for 8 - http://www.mymopar.com/charging.htm dont know if a factory manual will help - i bought a manual on cd and there is no wiring diagram - unless i have overlooked it and i hope someone can tell me where it is!! - as one of the reasons i bought it was i thought i would have a readable wiriing diagram - and you are dealing with post 70s alt wiring - oo3

1970 came with the solid state VR and dual-field regulator...only year the A-vans had this. Unfortunately Dodge never put out a service manual specifically for the 70 model year. I do have a 71 B-series diagram that shows the colors and I would imagine 70 would be the same

That wire going to the front of the alt. is definitely an add-on..throw it away. I see two brown and two red wires in that pic??? Somebody has been in there messing around that's for sure.

good news.. cleaned up the wiring a bit.. traced wire from voltage regulator to alternator.. found wire..was not even hooked up .. put a new end connector on it hooked it up .. started her up and presto charge-O ...

thanks for the help guys...

Great to hear problem solved

Most of the time with these old vans, it's not a part failure but a wiring problem. At least that's what I'ave encountered mostly.

I'm glad to hear it! I wish I was having better luck with mine... I pulled the entire harness, replaced any cooked wiring,, salvage yard starter, alt and VR (electronic), and still no luck... Feeling like I should just buy a new matched VR and Alt...

Glad to hear it was just something simple. Like Nate said, the wiring on these old vans are most of the proplems are. So a good wiring diagram is a must.....

sasktrini wrote:I'm glad to hear it! I wish I was having better luck with mine... I pulled the entire harness, replaced any cooked wiring,, salvage yard starter, alt and VR (electronic), and still no luck... Feeling like I should just buy a new matched VR and Alt...

It's easy to figure it out Corey, just take your time, use the right tools and we'll get you going.

Did you get it to crank or start yet?

Do you have a voltage test light and a continuity test light? Those help A LOT. Does the alternator have 2 or 3 terminals? You need the 3 terminal one for the electronic VR.

FYI - Sometimes just wiggling the spade clips on the terminals will get things going again. 40 some years may have caused a just enough corrision to mess with your day.

At least with the Dodges, if you have good fuses, but no voltage to the device, pull the guage cluster back a bit and check the connections on back of the fuse block. That's where that pin pointed tester comes in handy.

Also, these vans are simple. No computers, sensors, complex vacuum lines or electrical circuits to diagnose with logic trees. Sometimes you can have 2 items that failed, so try not to get discouraged.

I like to look at electrical as the plumbing in your house. There is a water supply (positive), faucet (switch), sink (device) and a sewer (negative) which is also every metal part of the van. The electricity needs a uninterrupted loop to flow from one terminal of the battery to the other. You may have plugged pipes (corroded connections and wires), bad faucets, insuffient water supplies, bad sewers, etc.

If you short circuit that loop and ground out, you have the equivalent to a flooded house - a very bad thing.

I pulled a dual-field alt and electronic VR from the same donor van... Old one had BAT-FLD-GRD, this one has BAT-FLD-FLD.
I did figure out that disconnecting the BATT connection on the ALT removed the key-off drain. Not sure the diff between voltage and continuity test lights... but I confirmed that there was no current by running my test light between the negative battery cable and negative battery post... It lights when ALT BATT wire is connected.

May just go for a new alt.

I may never think of electrical the same! Maybe more scared of plumbing!

I knew I could do that check at the negative battery post... never thought about doing it at the wire I disconnected... duh! Thanx Donivan!

thecruger wrote:good news.. cleaned up the wiring a bit.. traced wire from voltage regulator to alternator.. found wire..was not even hooked up .. put a new end connector on it hooked it up .. started her up and presto charge-O ...
thanks for the help guys...

Upgrading to the electronic/newer factury flat regulator is fairly simple, and a good idea, if you hate those going bright and dim headlights at night. gets rid of the pulsing amp gauge pointer too.
Just remember that the box/mechanical reg. sent positive power to one of the brushes (doesn't matter which one with the 3 wire alternater) and the other brush is always ground.
On the 2 wire Alt., one brush is already (or suposed to be) grounded to its case.
Later A-100's (with 3 wire Alt.) had a ground wire (light blue?) that traveled all the way through the harness to one mounting bolt of the Points/old type regulator under the dash.
The electronic factory flat regulator sends a ground signal to one brush (3 wire alt again) and the 2nd brush gets ignition (not Battery) fed to it from the ign switch side of the ballast resister.
The 2 wires into the flat reg are an ignition source in (just like the old mechanical reg) and the other is this ground signal (Black wire with green stripe?) sent to the 3 wire Alt. This is all DC so the brush you use for each (+ or -) doesn't matter. As should be obvious this reg. MUST BE GROUNDED GOOD where it fastens under the dash.
The 2 wire Alt gets hot positive ignition to the one open brush from the regulator. The switching on and off at idle is the WAVE/Pulsing you get at the Amp Gauge needle, and your lights.
There are new electronic regulators out there now that replace the old points type box without any wiring issues.
Hope this helps.
Terry