Abnormal charging issue (86 4wd)

wagonsrfunwagonsrfun Band Wagon
in Electronics, Fueling & Air Conditioning
Background Info:

I bought the wagon in a non-running condition. Installed a weber carb, new head gasket, battery, and alternator.

Currently the wagon runs great, but does not charge.

below are the voltage readings I measured at the battery

car off : 11.5
car on : 11.48-11.5
car on with head lights on : 10-11

I even tried running a 6ga wire from the alternator to the pos batt terminal, and measured similar readings.

Am I up against an odd ball problem resulting from my carb swap?

Is there something weird about the voltage regulator circuit I dont know?

The alternator I removed from the car tested OK, I replaced it because I figured the regulator was bad.

Thanks in advance

Comments

  • dukevonDANKdukevonDANK Wagonist
    Sounds like a connection issue somewhere...Try cleaning pos and neg terminals and applying an anti-sieze/anti-corrosion compound

    Check the easy stuff first, as always.
  • wagonsrfunwagonsrfun Band Wagon
    thanks,
    Yes, the batt. connections on the pos/neg posts are good. Maybe the chassis side of the neg cable is corroded...
  • wagonsrfunwagonsrfun Band Wagon
    The negative batt. cable was a little haggard where it grounds to the transmission so I replaced it with a new 6ga cable. and still the issue persists...
  • darktricksterdarktrickster Wagonist
    Check all your fuses too, speaking of easy stuff. After that, look for chewed, frayed, cut, or melted wires in the engine bay in the general vicinity of the altenator, battery, and fuse box(es). Not super familiar with the pre 88 civics.
  • wagonsrfunwagonsrfun Band Wagon
    darktrickster wrote: »
    Check all your fuses too, speaking of easy stuff. After that, look for chewed, frayed, cut, or melted wires in the engine bay in the general vicinity of the altenator, battery, and fuse box(es). Not super familiar with the pre 88 civics.

    fuses are good (under dash and engine bay) At this point I have 6ga wire running from the alt to the pos batt, and from the neg batt to the trans ground. Still without any charging...Even tho the batt is new, I am going to throw in my celica's and see if that works.
  • darktricksterdarktrickster Wagonist
    Hmm, sounds like the issue is going to be with the wiring that plugs into the altenator. Not the positive, but with the ground, or control(?) wires. Might be a bad voltage regulator. I'm just guessing at this point though. Good luck!
  • wagonsrfunwagonsrfun Band Wagon
    darktrickster wrote: »
    Hmm, sounds like the issue is going to be with the wiring that plugs into the altenator. Not the positive, but with the ground, or control(?) wires. Might be a bad voltage regulator. I'm just guessing at this point though. Good luck!

    Problem solved!

    Seeing that I have changed multiple wires/components I should have re-checked some points along the charging circuit throughout the process. I must have arced the alternator at some point cause the under dash alt fuse had blown after I checked it yesterday.
    In regards to your above note, I am pretty sure the alternator grounds from its own housing straight to the mounting bracket. I think the other alternator wires are for signaling the electric choke to engage and for the dash warning light.

    I apologize for the mundane post! new to this forum but not auto forums in general, so i know how the boring posts can get old...

    Thanks again
  • darktricksterdarktrickster Wagonist
    wagonsrfun wrote: »
    Problem solved!

    Seeing that I have changed multiple wires/components I should have re-checked some points along the charging circuit throughout the process. I must have arced the alternator at some point cause the under dash alt fuse had blown after I checked it yesterday.
    In regards to your above note, I am pretty sure the alternator grounds from its own housing straight to the mounting bracket. I think the other alternator wires are for signaling the electric choke to engage and for the dash warning light.

    I apologize for the mundane post! new to this forum but not auto forums in general, so i know how the boring posts can get old...

    Thanks again

    That makes sense. I've never had a charging issue with these cars so I have never taken the time to figure out exactly what all the wires going to the alt do. Thanks for the info!
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