Dub Nasty- The rebirth of the dirty diesel

[8v-of-fury]

Are you absolutely sure that your belt is not slipping?

[flowmastergfunk]

Good thinking, but I am sure. I pulled it in my garage this morning and checked thangs with my multimeter. At the white connector, I was getting 14v at the blue wire, and around 7.5v at the red/blk. Went to go check voltage at the tach, and it was working. Shut it off, restarted it, no tach. Checked voltage at the "W" terminal, 0.2v. Checked the other, 12.4v. Looks to me like the alternator is being inconsistent.

However, I did notice an error on my part. Maybe? If you look back at the alternator picture, you can see where I had the blue wire connected. The tab just north-west of that used to have a little "T" connector on it for a small bolt to be threaded into it. I took it off just before the picture. Anyways, I relized that I may have been using the wrong connector all the while. When I check voltage at the tabs, the one that I WAS using is 12+v, and the other is 0.2v. The wire itself is 12+v, so I am guessing it would prefer to go to a ground instead of another +

By this point, it looks like my alternator is NOT working

As I have been running it while typing, the battery is already at 12.0v

With the white connector plugged in, It is seeing .6v on the red/blk wire. When it is plugged into the NW tab on the alternator, the voltage is showing 1.67v at the white connector.

This alternator is not old at ALL! It should not be giving me any grief!

[flowmastergfunk]

dug around for an old spare alternator to swap the VR and found an extra goody

Now I know what that 12v tab is for! I guess it is just a noise filter? Whatever the case, swapped both parts onto my alt and it is working fine. Tach kinda twitches a little when you first start the car, but stays at zero. Give it one rev, it jumps up and falls back down at idle speed. I guess it just wants one rev to get it going. Common?

I started it 4 times in a row and it does the same thing every time. As long as it works! I am cool with that!

Another thing I noticed this morning, my dash lights only work on the first click of the switch (headlights still off). Once I get to the second click, they turn off I am hoping it is just the switch...that makes sense, and I know they are finicky.

Hoping to finish the other wires for my triple gauges today so I can put the dash back together for good!
SO wierd to think about having a car with lights and gauges again! It is been waaaayyy too long.

[flowmastergfunk]

Finally got to check my millage for the first time, since I now have a working odometer. I drove 373 miles since the last time I filled up, and I put 9.3 gallons into it. That is 40.1mpg and I drive the PISS out of this car!!!

I can't wait to see what my millage is when I drive to Bonelli next month! I will have the tent on the roof, so I am going to try to keep my foot out of it

[libbydiesel]

The alternator needs to 'excite' before it starts charging or sending out a W signal, thus the one rev often required.

[mzak88]

The alternator needs to 'excite' before it starts charging or sending out a W signal, thus the one rev often required.

I know this is common on heavy trucks, never noticed on car or light truck though...interesting.