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When I turn some electrical things on in my 80 4x4 my Gen light will glow a little depending on what component I have on and how many. For example, the Gen light will flash with the blinkers but not with the hazards. When the backup lights are on the gen light will also come on. The a/c and cig lighter also make it come on. The more of the components that I have on the brighter the light gets. The head lights or the radio don't seem to have an affect on the light. I never have problems with the battery going dead and it always cranks good making it seem like the alternator is good. Let me know if you have had the same problem or know what is causing this to happen. Thanks

More than likely your voltage regulator is on its way out the door. You can take the regulator in to Autozone and they will test it for free. You might want them to run a test on your charging system to ensure your good to go in that area also.

that was normal in my truck for the longest time.
it isn't the voltage regulator....mine did it with the stock voltage regulator and with the GM internal regulator in the alternator I was using.
I replaced 80% of my wiring to get around the light doing that.
Mine would act up when the headlights were on, heater and when I went to turn the blinkers on. the blinkers would blink really slow and the gen light would be on as well.
join the club!

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03Cobra

if u reach up under the dash u can get your hand to the back of the speedo and such where those lights are...u can unscrew them and take them out. I just took out the light that illuminated the gen light FIXED!

I actually put in a new battery and all is well.

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Mine did that forever too, I just let it be and never had any problems with the truck.

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Worn slip ring brushes in the alternator will also cause the generator warning light to come on. As you increase the load on the alternator, it has difficulty increasing output to carry the load. Hence, the warning light comes on. The reason being that the brushes are so short the springs can't seat them firmly against the sliprings. This results in low excitation current because of the poor brush connection and therefore low alternator output. And, voilà, a warning light comes on. Bad contacts in the voltage regulator cause the same symptoms. Filing the points can only be a temporary fix. It's nearly impossible to file them smooth and flat.

If it is just a slight glow that gets brighter the more stuff you have on, my guess is that it is ground related. It is really common for the ground straps between the cab/body and the motor to get snapped and not replaced which causes some strange issues to crop up. Usually when someone pulls the motor or trans they forget the braided ground strap (I've done it myself) and it gets pulled off. Without it, things get to ground in some very odd ways, and my theory is that some of this feeds back through the alternator or regulator which causes the light to glow.

My 77 had the glowing gen light thing for probably ten years before I decided to wire in something to better ground the body to the frame. Now I have brighter headlights, faster running heater blower, and no glowing warning light. I ended up grounding the cab to the motor and the trans, and I connected the front clip to the frame. Originally there is a strap from the trans to the cab floor and I believe from the firewall to the motor. I think I've only had one LUV that I bought where either strap was still intact. They are just so easy to miss in an engine swap and so weak that you don't even notice them letting go.


I'm sure there are a lot of worn out parts that can cause the same symptom, but over the years I had replaced the alt, reg, battery, bat cables and a lot of other stuff without ever seeing a change in that glowing gen light. Nothing touched it until I decided to finally fix those missing ground straps.

i had that problem when i first got my truck.it happened with the headlights,heater and the wipers.

i got it to go away by putting the stock luv alt. for trucks with a/c and a headlight relay. I don't know what did it,cause i did them at the same time

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Is the alternator different for a/c and non a/c models???

Luv masta is right. Without a proper ground, the ground circuit becomes a dirty, resistive motor or transmission mount or even a drive shaft, axle housing and rusty springs. The engine then is above ground, retaining a slight voltage. This is applied thru the warning light to the lights ground, giving it a slight glow.

mm95z71: I replied to your PM, but I thought I'd pass the info along here as well.

I just used some sorta thick gauge wire with crimp on connectors at both ends to replace the original ground straps. The braided woven wire stuff used originally is probably better at handling the constant movement of the motor/trans, but as long as there is some slack with a bend in the wire I would expect it to last a couple years before breaking.

The a/c alternator is just rated for a bit higher output. From what I've seen on my 79, the non a/c alt just has a bit bigger pulley but looked otherwise identical to the a/c model I had to replace.