Im helping my friend get his mothballed '56 sedan deville going again. He got a 472 cad 700r4 swapped into it. Cool but there is a ghost in the machine. It has a one wire alternator. it was originally 12v and neg ground. We got it running great and drove it around the neighborhood for 30 mins or so after rebuilding the brakes. It stalled and wouldn't start. Not a click from the starter solenoid nothing. After a few minutes of checking wiring we called AAA. Will waiting we tried again and it slowly turned over but not enough to start. The tow truck showed up 20 mins later and before they hooked it up we tried it one more time. IT STARTED RIGHT UP. Like nothing happened. Background is as such: New ignition switch and new modern battery. The car had the same issue with the original motor but hadn't happened since the swap until today. The car was running like crap with the 472. We changed plugs, wires, cap, rotor and coil. When we changed the coil we discovered that the original(1956) ballast resistor was intermittent/cracked. We replaced that and the motor ran so good after that. My thought is that the original voltage regulator is bad/intermittent. Any way to test it? Do I need it with the alternator(internal voltage regulator)? What else should we look for?
When I got stuck in town it ended up being my starter.I got it rebuilt and it was fine. It would not even try to turn over.No clicking or nothing. I don't know much just thought I would share what happened to me in my 1956 Cadillac .
Battery connections? Battery cables? Are the cables quality or taiwan? Sounds to me like you have a connection issue... maybe an old or less than quality battery cable.
Running an alternator you can bypass the voltage regulator. You should use a harness with the diode in it to keep from backfeeding to the ignition though. Without it the engine may not stop with the key off. As said earlier, check connections for corrosion, make sure the battery ground is good and engine to chassis ground is good on both sides. Not sure if its wired like my Pontiac, but the charging system all runs through the ammeter on the dash. Might wanna check connections there too.
You do not need the original voltage regulator. The alternator has one inside. I have mine set-up with a recent one-wire Delco alternator.
If you have doubts about the alternator stick a meter on the battery posts with it running, if everything is right it should be somewhere between 14.2 and 14.7 at idle if the battery is topped off good. If it is a true one wire it has an internal regulator, and if the original is still in place, I can't see that it is serving any purpose. Sounds to me like you probably have an intermittent bad connection somewhere in the wiring, I doubt it is alternator related.
There are three terminals on the voltage regulator. If I were to bypass this where would the diodes go and should I just wire them all together? Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
You need to see where that one wire from the alternator is tied in, if it goes direct to the positive cable from the battery or some other terminal. Also determine that it is working correctly. One of the terminals on the old external regulator will be labeled B, and have a heavier wire than the other two, there is a possibility that someone hooked the one wire to that terminal and it is getting back to the battery from there, the other two wires are probably not doing anything. I can't think of any diodes that would be involved in the scenario you have presented.
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