OldSkuZed Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 First of thanks to those to helped me out on my previous "help" thread as I got her running good finally!Now to my current issue, the car sometimes turns off or chokes when I decelerate or if I rev the car it will attempt to shut off and sometimes will. Also noticed the lights on my dash will get brighter as I rev so I assumed it was a faulty alternator, also disconnected the battery while the car was on to see if it would remain on and it did shut off every time which confirmed my suspicion of a bad alternator so I removed it and went to get it tested BUT it passed.Now I also noticed that its a modern internal reg alternator (re man "Advance Auto Parts" alternator) and the wires from where the factory reg is has been spliced and had a fuse installed. So not knowing much about these older setups I'm assuming they converted to the modern alternators and this was apart of that conversion.So now I'm stumped as to whats the cause of this issue if the alternator is in fact good. Is there other components in this system I should be checking?Thanks again for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calpoly-z Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Check out this link that explains what the swap to an internally regulated alternator requires. Then check to make sure yours was done correctly. Not sure why a fuse was added. If that all checks out, then it's time to sit down with a service manual and go through the wiring diagram. http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/alternatorswap/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSkuZed Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 (edited) Okay I took a closer look at the regulator side and this is what I found. It seems that's its untouched... Being that it currently has a modern internal reg alternator how is this able to work??? Also would you be able to tell me whats this fuse box/bridge for as I haven't seen it on other cars. As you can see two wires were cut and had a fuse added and bypasses it now just leaving the the one in in the box. Edited June 5, 2013 by OldSkuZed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSkuZed Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 Just to add to my confusion I only see 5 wires. Missing the GR wire that says I need to connect to wire WB. Only have G/WB/B/Y/W..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beermanpete Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 (edited) Okay I took a closer look at the regulator side and this is what I found. It seems that's its untouched... Being that it currently has a modern internal reg alternator how is this able to work??? Also would you be able to tell me whats this fuse box/bridge for as I haven't seen it on other cars. As you can see two wires were cut and had a fuse added and bypasses it now just leaving the the one in in the box. The fuse appears to be a repair for the fusible link and is not directly related to the regulator / charging system. Just to add to my confusion I only see 5 wires. Missing the GR wire that says I need to connect to wire WB. Only have G/WB/B/Y/W..... All the wiring diagrams I have show 6 wires in the connector for the regulator. What year is your car? How do you know your alternator is the internally regulated type? To answer your question in your first post: The lights should get brighter when you rev the motor. To test for proper charging measure the voltage at the battery when the engine is running. At idle it will be about 13 volts. When you rev the motor is should rise to about 14.5 to 15.0 volts and not go any higher. Edited June 5, 2013 by beermanpete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSkuZed Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 Its a 75 and apparently they only have 5 wires so not sure what to do now. Im assuming still having the VR set up may cause a problem. As for knowing how its a internally regulated alternator when I removed it thinkining it was the source of the problem I noticed it was a reman from Advance Auto Parts and I see the internal reg on the unit itself. Item # 14118 for this unit since it still has the tag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 You're probably seeing something else. Sounds like you just have a plain old externally regulated alternator, on an old 1975 280Z, with a bunch of old corroded connections drawing enough current at idle to put your headlights on battery power. Revving the engine provides enough current to charge the battery and run the headlights. A PO decided to replace one of the fusible links with a fuse in the past. Not uncommon. I plugged your part number in to Google and it comes up as an externally regulated alternator. You can move on to cleaning electrcial connections and fixing other worn-out stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSkuZed Posted June 6, 2013 Author Share Posted June 6, 2013 ^Actually your rights its a internal reg unit.... I went by the photo on alanticz which shows a plain back compared to mine which seemed to have the reg unit but it was just the diode and the guy which I do trust at my parts store said it was an internal unit as well but on their site it clearly shows external.... Thanks for catching that for me I would of started to cut and splice that connector to the reg still having a ext. unit... lol Well put everything back together and checked to see if the alternator is charging properly and it seems to be doing its job, battery goes a little above 14v when revved. Lights do dim when on idle and get brighter when I climb rpms but you say that's normal so this leaves me to just go through all the wires and clean them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motomanmike Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 (edited) What RPM is your idle set at? I had 2 pulleys made for my cars, each had sort of the same issue. Lower output at idle so the smaller pulley makes the alternator spin a little faster than it would with the stock pulley. Food for thought. It makes it a pretty small pulley though. Edited June 6, 2013 by motomanmike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSkuZed Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 I have it set at 800rpms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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