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It took me three weeks to figure out how they rigged the starter and the lights, but once I got them all pieced back together I found that the ijiot who had her before did not finish what he started. So I finally finished it.

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More LUV than one man could ever need - Spread the LUV!
- 1976 Chevy Longbed - Daily Driver
- 1981 Chevy Shortbed 4X4 - Needs Help!
- 1981 Chevy Luv 4X4 - Newly put together

Yeah it figures

If you ever try to trace a wire that the book says that has to be there and it isn't, your not the only one. I had a heck of a time trying to trace the wires in the harness down. I have been trying for the last two weeks to track down a wire that disappears.

Makes you wonder if the engineers were really watching the colors as they went together.

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More LUV than one man could ever need - Spread the LUV!
- 1976 Chevy Longbed - Daily Driver
- 1981 Chevy Shortbed 4X4 - Needs Help!
- 1981 Chevy Luv 4X4 - Newly put together

Unfortunately yeah it has happened to me and i hate it.......

what circuts would really be needed if i yanked it all out?

the plan for this truck is to drop a 3.8 i picked up out of a camaro in it and i don't plan on having all the smog crap.

let's see:

ignition,starter relay,lights,heater,stereo,horn,guages elec choke and idle cut off.......that's it i guess.

the large loads would need to be distributed by a multi outlet relay right? the starter circuit is already set up that way.

i have always wanted a door operated dome light

maybe set up a few free acc and ignition controlled circuts for additional equipment later?

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You might be able to get away with that. I dunno. Depends on how fat the harness is that gets shoved through that little hole.

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More LUV than one man could ever need - Spread the LUV!
- 1976 Chevy Longbed - Daily Driver
- 1981 Chevy Shortbed 4X4 - Needs Help!
- 1981 Chevy Luv 4X4 - Newly put together

If you're going to yank out the wiring harness and rebuild it, download the wiring diagram from this site and have it printed out, only bigger, so you can easily see all the individual wires without going cross-eyed. Then get a set of colored pencils to trace each circuit as you wire it. That helps you keep track of your progress. I used to do this on aircraft in the Air Force, so take my word for on it. It's easy to lose track of where you're are if you don't draw it out as you go along. Some circuits you won't have to replace and others may only need a splice or section of new wire. It can be done, but it takes patience.

Heres my 2 cents.... replace the fusebox while you're at it. I upgraded mine to ATC blade fuses and moved them to inside the cab instead of under the hood. Mine was rusted out and the wiring underneath was so corroded that if you so much as touched it, chances are something would stop working. Its a relatively cheap upgrade and not too hard to do either. For me, I got 6 new fuse bays to play with in case I want to add something and have it fused through the box instead of those inline fuses that everyone forgets to check when something is burned out, mostly cause you forgot where on the wire the fuse is.

Depending on your financial situation you may be prepared to go with a universal harness from painless or EZ or a company like that. Its expensive, but definately worth it if you're planning on keeping the truck and doing other upgrades to it as well.

grrr......650 miles this time ...............

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It is a shot in the dark, but it might help to pull the disti and clean the crap out of it. Use some brake/electric motor cleaner and just get all the junk out from in the area where the points are. Then make sure the shaft lobes have a light coat of grease and pack a dab of grease on the the lobe follower bit on the new points. Nothing excessive on the grease, just enough. Maybe they are picking up a little junk here and there and eventually it is enough to "regap" them into cooking themselves.

I fought with burning points on my 76 LUV for a long time before I finally cleared it up somehow. I swapped in a freshly cleaned disti and a new coil near the end and was on a good run for record life of a set of points in that truck. I never got the chance to be sure it was fixed for good though as that truck was at the losing end of a truck vs bridge abuttment argument. I used to carry 2 new sets of points, and numerous refiled workable used sets because it could blow them twice in a day if it was feeling like it.

The only other theory I have is an intermittant over-charging problem. If the alternator runs wild once in a while it can pull the voltage to the coil (even through the ballast) up to high or spike the ignition circuit. Ever have any problems with blowing headlights, tail, or marker lights often? My 79 came with that problem, a cooked ballast resistor, and a very bad set of points. Just a thought as to what might be going on.

800Xl that is a good one there. I had an ignition coil that was flashing in my 77 LUV years ago that was burning the points out. When I finally found out what it was I had to beat it to pieces to see inside. One wire burned out and Kapow - Kung Fu Blowout.

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More LUV than one man could ever need - Spread the LUV!
- 1976 Chevy Longbed - Daily Driver
- 1981 Chevy Shortbed 4X4 - Needs Help!
- 1981 Chevy Luv 4X4 - Newly put together

hmmm.... i scored a set of "true 12 v" points......guy at the parts counter said that they had a stronger spring in em too, so i bought em.

i don't know if they'll last but damn ......i got another 750 rpm out of the motor now.....nice and solid the whole way.

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point vehicles will always have a ballast resistor to cut the current down.

Now if a wrong coil was installed that draws more current or the ballast resistor is bypassed it will fry the points fast. CXause you know it didnt go bad from the factory since new. So somebody changed something. Get a coil for that vehicle.
For points to get a true 12 volts is not good and the condensor keeps it from arching bad. You have the correct resistance on the coil?

If a Accel Super coil was installed you have to add the ballast ressitor in the kit to the stock ballast in series(add them up).

In point vehicle it only gets a true 12 volt supply when its in the start position to make up for the voltage/current drain on startup.
it by the key switch or relay that the ballast is bypassed to get full 12 volts.
Did someone jumper a relay?

i don't know if any relay have been jumpered......i've been replacing them as they go out. all my wiring is stock except for the headlight relay(yay!) and the 50 amp alternator.......wait .....ah ha!

should i have replaced the Voltage regulator with it? i dont think the voltage jumped w/my alt but the gen light don't come on any more, so there's gotta be more juice. and now that i think about it .......that's around when this started.

the alternator upgrade is stock for the luv with an a/c system in it .

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Too much current flowing across the points is what's frying the points. Current or amperage is determined by two things voltage and resistance or load. With the engine running at a fast idle check the voltage across the battery terminals. Anything above 14.5 volts is getting too high. On the other hand if the ballast resistor is wired in wrong and it's not dropping voltage across it, then it's not limiting current after engine start.

Robert has it correct.
The voltage reg should not be it. If it was overcharging I think you would be cooking your battery unless you have the new dry type(dont know how they act if over charged) But the regular ones will overspill acid and bulge. I know when my regulator went bad.

I too also upgraded my 510s/and 521 truck to higher 50 amp alternators.

Points need less current/voltage during normal operation. Only on start up they should get a full 12volts.

So I would ck the condensor ground, ballast resistor ,coil ect but if this dint start untill the alternator was changed then maybe ck into that.
The only other thing I could posiible think of is if you have a older ext reg type truck and you installed a internal reg type alternator but ai would think it would matter if you wired (jumpered the correct wires to convert to a IR type alternator).

I say the best way to ck this out is have a diagram on the start up schematic. If your using a relay to bypass the ballast resistor maybe its stuck giving a full 12volts(on the start position) then your just running it that way. I think the points would burn up immediatly but maybe theres enough resistance to run for a couple days. Im not a Luv expert but points are points.

I would find this relay if i has one disconect the starter wire then turn the switch to start and hear if you hear a click by the ballast resister or do a voltage test/ohm test. if possible to open the circut up or go to the ballast to measure the output.

JUST READ THIS EXCHANGE OF IDEAS. I AM CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM THAT I THINK I WILL BE ABLE T0 SOLVE THANKS TO THE KNOWLEDGE I HAVE JUST GLEANED. THANKS TO ALL.

This is off topic, but I would like to say how nice it is when someone finds the answer to their problem in other posts before they ask the same question over again. Kudos to LUV IN GARAGE for self service! Welcome to the site and I'm sure in the future you'll find answers here to questions you didn't even know you have.

Its not that I really hate answering the same questions over and over because I luv to talk about LUVs, but I just wanted to give some credit to the new guy where it is due.