No Charge

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 4:53 pm

Hello. I have recently acquired a 86 Wagon 4x4. The little 3-A purs like a dream, even though it idles at 2k RPM, and all accesories work great. Blinker, back-up light, running lights, brake lights, headlights, dash lights, and dome light all work fine.
What DOESN'T work is the charging system and the radiator fan switch. For the radiator fan, the previous owners just rigged up an on/off switch which works fine.
We had the alternator and battery tested at an Autozone and at a Napa and both said they were fine. We checked belt tension, checked for a firm connection, checked for excessive corrosion, and all the other standard checks, but the alternator is not charging the battery. Everything electrical works fine until the battery drains to death then it all shuts off. The alternator is an internal regulator 55 amp type and gets quite warm while running, so it must be attempting to do something. We also checked all fuses related to charging and checked all the relays. They all were fine.

Any suggestions?

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 7:28 pm

Sounds like a short between the alternator and ground. Or the alternator is plain screwed.

takza · Post by **takza** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 5:16 am

The radiator fan defaults to running all the time if the wires or the thermo switch on the rad goes bad or loses conx. I'd try to fix that so it works right. You could forget to turn it on.

I've got the earlier external regulator, but had a similar problem where my new alt would charge heavily and get hot...turned out to be the new regulator was faulty. Your alt tests out OK cause it charges...but it is overcharging? My guess is the alt.

dug320 · Post by **dug320** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:58 am

The rad works on a relay. Check the fuse. Check water temperature switch. Short the switch and check to see if the fan works. If it does not work check the rad fan relay. These are the only two things that could cause problems.

With regards to the battery charge. The alternator should get warm but that does not mean it is working. Even the two mentioned places could be wrong if they use the exact same testing procedure. I have seen too many altenator testers that check for continuity and not much more.

Try and find a working (wrecking yard) altenator to test against.

I know it is not much help but the system is set up for simple part exchange.

lesabre400 · Post by **lesabre400** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 8:32 am

I'm with dug and the others. It sure sounds like the alternator and a junkyard piece would be a cheap way to check it out. Regulator's likely buggered. My Buick did the same thing and a rebuilt alternator solved it and has kept running for 4 years now (in storage half the year too).
Electrical problems suck. Good luck.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 3:51 pm

Thanks. I had a mechanic buddy of mine look at it and he got it figured out. There was a wire with a break in it between the alternator and battery. He just popped in a new wire and its working fine now. As for the radiator fan, he just replaced the fuse and relay, re-did a little wiring and it was fixed. Hooray for mechanically/electrically inclined friends!