LUVTruck.com

I have an 82 diesel luv that is not charging any longer , I notice the battery light doesn't come on when the key is on before it is started. And it doesn't light up after it is running to indicate that it is not charging? When I pull the Regulator fuse out it lights up then. If I pull the Batt cable when it is running it kills the motor? This all seems like a ground problem to me but if any one can let me in on a common problem I would be very appreciative. Thanks JP Robbins

Never mind, didn't read the whole post. Check your brushes, that could be your prob. right there, my dad had a simular thing happen to him and his brushes were almost non-existant when he took them out.

_________________
-Old ride-82 Luv diesel 5spd with some upgrades
-Past rides-82 Sierra, 78 Coupe De'Ville, 91 2dr Blazer, 86 RX7, 86 Porsche 944T (rear-ended and totaled)
-Curr. rides- 1970 Ford LTD 4dr, 390 4Bbl, 2nd owner! With a few Extras 00' Civic beater...

it could be your alt going out as stated above. Also if your worried about grounds, i ran one on my 1.8L gas truck front the alternator braket on the block to the braket that holds the brake resevoirs onto the inner fender. I would sugest doing something like that as the engine to body grounds on these trucks are perty cheesey.

_________________
1980 LUV 4x4, going under re-construction...

Check the condition of your battery. I just replaced mine today and it cleared up a similar problem. A couple of idiot light would come on at low RPM's. The alternator couldn't keep up.

I intalled a new battery yesterday and it is dead this am. I must have a short. Any ideas how I might run that into a corner, or where to start?

Sounds like you have a internal shorted alt. Pull the ground off at the battery. Charge your battery. Hook up a vom in series between your batt and cable. Check for a draw in voltage and amps. Disconnect your alt and check again. If the amps and voltage drop go away it is the alt.

_________________
Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

I installed a rebuilt alt last year. Maybe it has gone sour. I will do what you suggested and report back. Gotta get a vom first. Thanks

relays working? try this with a voltmeter. first disconnect your negative battery cable. then disconnect your alternator cable connector. hook up the battery and turn the key to run position. take your voltmeter and turn the dial to 10a. your going to test the charge relay on the driver side wheel well. use the red lead off the meter and place it into the connector from your harness in the w/blue wires slot. with the black lead, go to the w/green on the same connector. you should be hearing that relay clicking.
if it is, relay is good. you can also switch your meter back to check voltage now and, using the red lead, go to the solid white wire in the connector. use the black lead to go ground on the body. you should have almost battery voltage. this will tell you if the harness is ok or if you have a bad ground. if all that checks out, unhook the battery and hook up the alt. hook back up the battery. start the truck. use the red lead to test the solid white wire in the alt. connecter and black lead to ground on the body. should still be battery voltage. use the red lead to go to the w/blue and black lead to ground. it should be ideally 13.8 volts charging from the alt. if not, check the brushes in the alt. from here, any lower voltage reading than 13v and you could have a diode problem or a regulator problem in the alt. if it helps, go to autozone.com, under repair info heading you can find a lot of the wiring schematics for these trucks.

Bought a digital VOM and tested the alt. and pulled all the fuses one by one. Alt is fine and the short is not in any of the fused circuits. Going to try Callaway's relay test procedure.

My problem turned out to be an bad alternator. My assumption that because I had recently replaced it, so it must be good was wrong. I tested the output and could only get a max of 12.3 volts on the meter. I was essentially running off my battery until it died. Slapped in a NAPA refurb (it took 2 months to get it) and all is good. This time I will keep my receipt.

MY alternator problem(from top message ) turned out to the the voltage regulator , I got one through transpo electronics for 14$ and it has been working good for a few months now . It is a six pin regulator and is very delicate to solder in place . Just a note for cost saving ideas .