So last Sunday I installed a 6 volt alternator from fifth avenue auto parts. The car started right up after everything was hooked up. I took it for a drive and about an hour after i got home i went out to start it but all i was getting was the clicking of the starter solinoid. I jump started the car and to test and see if it was because the alternator wasnt outputting any power i pulled the positive battery cable while the car was running. The car kept running on the juice coming out of the alternator. I looked at all my wires and rereferenced the installation guide. Everything was hooked up correctly. I guess what is confusing me is how if the alternator is working correctly and everything is wired correctly than why would this be happening? It seems almost as though the battery is getting drained from something but since everything is wired correctly im not sure how that could be happening. Any advice? Thanks in advance
Why did you install the alternator in the first place? Replacing the generator or replacing a bad alternator? Perhaps it's as simply as a bad battery.
Yea, from your description it sounds like it may be the battery. I havr to admit that I didn't know that a 6 V ALTERNATOR existed....
not a good idea to run the car on the alternator without the battery. did you check the output voltage on the alt?
I don't know about that specific alternator but I'd beware of any wiring schematic that jumps the voltage sensing wire to the bat. terminal. I see alot of 3 wire gm's wired this way and it may work for certain situations but its not right, and can cause problems.
I had the same problem. I did have a bad alternator. After replacing the alternator I could jump start the car, but that was it. My battery was completly dead, I couldn't just start it. I borrows my neigbors battery charger and charged my battery. Since then I haven't had any of those problems...
If you attempt to polarize the regulator on an alternator equipped rig most likely you will blow the diodes out. Ok folks, Greasy may not be leading us on at all. It seems that there are shops converting alternators to put out six volts http://www.qualitypowerauto.com/catalog.php?item=24 is one example. Google search= http://www.google.com/search?source...tnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= You did buy the alternator with the proper polarity? If you bought one for a Ford tractor and put it in a Chevy it is going to end up being wrong. I'd first do as some of the others have suggested and hook up the volt meter and see if it is charging what it should charge. Then I would (and probably do this first) check out the battery to be positive that it is in good condition. If the battery isn't good to begin with nothing is going to work right. Along with that the usual in checking the electrical connections especially the ground connection on the battery cable.
Thanks for the link. I thought he'd just confused alternator and generator as 50 chevs were generators and I hadn't heard of 6 volt alternators. It honestly makes little sense to me. If you're going to an alternator, change it all to 12 vdc. Sorry for my erros.
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