76 van has alternator with 2 wires on it. Van has undergone PO's changes, I do not know if what I inherited years ago is correctly wired. There is a small one inch cube sealed circuit with about 5 terminals & only 4 wires screwed to the firewall on the battery side. Wires from battery, alternator, etc go to it.
What is the cube thingee if this is an internal-regulated alternator?
Red light came on while driving - intermittent - not like when one of the brushes wore out last year, but more steady. Wiggled the wiring and light went out and seemed to be okay.
The battery is not being charged. Worked okay till recently. Can drive for a day or 3, then I must recharged the battery in the shop. No big deal, but it doesn't last long if I drive at night.
Alternator brushes okay, but there was a lot of fuzzy shit around them that could have been shorting something out till I cleaned it out.
After this, it seemed to not be charging at first, then light started going out [properly when started, but I'm still unning on the battery. I get about 12.3v at alternator - no increase when running faster.
How do I test the alternator (Jim's site has gen only?).
Where were those wiring digrams posted?
Any suggestions for easy fix? I have another alternator - a 3 terminal one, but if I put it in the car it behaves like an electro-magnet, probably because when I tried it a year or 2 back I forgot it needs the external regulator. I'd rather not change it - just get my installed one working, although it's no big deal for me to change the alternator in the van - I got Kadrons, but I think I've thrown out all the old spare external regulators!!??
Any suggestions - Jim? Travis?
- Tom