Okay I am back. I have an electrical problem. I had the same problem with the car about a month ago. The battery got sucked dry because my alternator was "kaput". So I replaced the alternator with a brand new one (my car is a '73 swinger with a 318) and a new regulator. I left the ballast resistor in place as well as the battery (oooops might be it, but hold on). So at my friend's house I turn on car (not running, but key in on position) and turned on headlights, radio, hit brakes, and honked the horn and all worked well. WEnt to start car and the starter just clicks. Got it jump started and same symptoms as before, blinkers arent "blinking" just come on and stay on, lights are dim. BY the time I get home the headlights are virtually non-existant, and the car is starting to rumble like it is misfiring.

What do you think? here is what i think:
1) When battery died first time one or more cells could have been damaged. now these cells are "resistors" and not allowing battery to be charged fully when car is on, and charge gets smaller and smaller cause resistance increases. (like cell phone battery).
2) ballast resistor is kaput, on my '66 everything was dialed in and the resistor was bad and NOTHING worked until I replaced that part.
3) bad starter, but maybe not since a jump start got the car running.

i am at a loss, I am pissed off since I thought I fixed the same problem a month ago.

help me PLEASE!!!!!!
caesar

When lead-acid batteries are run down to 'dead', they can develop shorts in one or more cells, as you suspect. What you end up with is a less than than 12 volt battery which is too weak to start & run the car, and can boil when the system tries to charge it with full voltage.

Have it tested for free at one of the auto stores

The starter will need more power than the radio and horn to work. I remember having my battery die on me and everything worked except the starter clicked. Basically I'm stating that I think it's probably the battery. Is you wiring in bad shape and do you drive at night a lot. I ask because the bad wiring can cause problems with charging and driving at night you'll have lights, maybe heater, and may idle a lot. If you do that then your battery won't get to charge anyway. If this describes what you do then a good way to avoid a dead battery is by putting it on a charger when it's not in use about once a week or more. If this doesn't describe your driving then the battery's probably kaput.

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My car may be slow to sixty, but at least it's been reliably slow to sixty for more than thirty years.

My stepson had a similar problem last year in his S 10 truck. We pulled the starter and had it bench tested. It was on its way out, so we replaced the starter and all was well. The jumpstart would provide just enough extra juice to get the starter going. I had a 68 A100 with 318 years ago that ate starters like crazy. Went through about 4 starters before I figured out it was the terminals on the ground strap and main power cable that were causing the problem. I was constantly cleaning the terminals on the battery and the starter itself to keep it working (about every 3 months or so.) The ground strap to the starter got hit by road grime a lot, and the positive terminal just seemed to tarnish a bit, but as long as everything was clean it was happy. Anything that reduces the current flow to the starter can cause problems. Good luck

His isn't that the starter won't work, though - the problem is that the battery is dying even though his alternator and voltage regulator are okay. Time to test the battery.

"Got it jump started and same symptoms as before, blinkers arent "blinking" just come on and stay on, lights are dim. BY the time I get home the headlights are virtually non-existant, and the car is starting to rumble like it is misfiring."

Guess I overlooked this part...definately check the battery first

ok, I will pull the starter and have it checked (and cleaned). I also got some good advice about battery cables, will also check engine ground strap to make sure everything is kosher. My "adoptive" dad told me that the battery most likely has a dead cell, so each time it charges less and less, but why do the headlights go dim at night? time to check the wires under the dash, all wires in the engine and forward are BRAND NEW!! i got new harness and installed it about 2 months ago. My '66 has had less problems, but it is a simpler setup. anyhow thanks for all the good ideas, and I will most likely replace the battery as a preventive step along with the balast resistor.

i will keep you guys posted and let you know how it goes.

thanks
Caesar

Defintely get the battery checked. It sounds like a bum cell.

The ballast resistor has absolutely nothing to do with the charging system. It is in the ignition circuit. It only comes into play when the engine is running, reducing the current to the coil once the car is started.

If the ballast resistor is shot, the car will not run after the key is released from the "start" position. Your car runs after it is started, so there is nothing wrong with the ballast resistor.

Your problem is getting enough power to start the car - which is the battery.

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Bill
Vancouver, BC

thanks for info on ballast resistor, didnt realize that. if it was shot even a jump start wouldnt get car running would it? I am going to swap batteries from the '66 (running car, old faithful) to the '73 (electrical gremlin car) and see what that does. I will do that after jump starting and pulling battery. If it goes poop then New alternator and new battery, good thing I cant afford it, time to go donate some plasma, WOO HOO!!!.

take care, and thanks again.

Caesar

I see nothing here to condemn the battery yet.

It may still be bad, but if the charging system is working properly, your power would not be diminishing while you drive the car. Yes I know you just replaced the alternator and regulator, but did you make sure they were functioning? What is your ammeter needle doing? Is it to the left or right of center when the engine is running? Have you taken any voltage measurements anywhere? How did you determine your old alternator and regulator were "kaput"? Any of the above guesses could be right, but without doing some basic voltage tests all you can do is blindly change parts, and that gets a lot more expensive than it really needs to be. Having said that, I'm going to make a guess of my own and suggest you double check to make sure your regulator is properly grounded to the firewall. Throw the battery on charge, buy a $60 digital multimeter, and once the battery is fully charged, install it, start the car, and rev it up. Then take a voltage reading at the battery terminals with the engine running and tell us what it says. If it's still at 12.6V or less, we've got to work on the charging system. Even with a bad battery the dynamic voltage will still be above latent battery voltage. Your alternator will be full-fielded and the battery will boil if a cell or two is bad.

(I'm assuming that the alternator's not overcharging due to the dim lights.)

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

The ballast resistor is bypassed when the keyswitch is in the start position. Your engine would fire as long as the starter was still engaged, but would shut off as soon as the key was released. Sure fire way to isolate a ballast resistor if the rest of the car is in good health.

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

last time i determined alt was bad by starting car and disconnecting battery completely and the car shut off (rudamentary test, but still somewhat effective). I by-passed the alt gauge so it is useless to me, anyhow it blew up behind the dash, as well as the connectors at the firewall bulkhead were fried. I had to install a brand new wiring harness from the firewall forward and rewired my entire charging system Instead of a wire going from firewall to gauge then to battery. I spliced a wire DIRECTLY from alternator to starter relay where battery is connected so there is a direct line to battery from Alternator. Then i routed wire from alt wire to dash and completed the circuit that way.

So that is why I am thinking what I am thinking. the alt should have no problem charging the battery since it doesnt pass current through anything else on its way to battery.

I will check everything once I get the car jumped and running with a multimeter on sunday or monday. Besides I cant afford a $60 anything, I honestly might have to start donating plasma just to be able to afford an oil change and gasoline, but enough about my sad story (AND NO I WONT SELL MY CARS!!!!!!!).

I will figure it out this weekend or monday at the latest.

Thanks again

Caesar

Never, ever do this. This will damage the voltage regulator. Find whoever suggested this to you and throw a garbage bag full of live rats over his fence. The easiest way to check the charging system is to take a voltage reading from the battery when the engine is running.

Do you have a John Deere dealership near you? I strongly recommend going to one and ordering a "Fundamentals of Service (FOS) Electrical Systems" manual. This book is kind of a primer for basic mobile electrical systems. Last time I checked it was about $20 and very easy to read. You'll learn enough about wiring the first day you read it to prevent a lot of expensive damage to your car!

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Your new alternator may be bad. Since you say that after you replaced it the problem went away. Just make sure that nothing is staying on and that you don't have anything drawing current like a bulb staying on. Use an ampmeter and hunt it down. You can start doing this by disconnecting one thing at a time and pulling 1 fuse at a time. Also you can use and test light to track it down.

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Former bent 6 owner
Mark

After testing everything it became clear that my alternator was pooped. However I think a bad battery caused this to be the case. When the battery was tested it had only about 140 cold cranking amps, vs 450 CCR for what it is rated at. The guy at the parts store said that when my power wire from alternator to battery blew up it most likely damaged the old alternator. This caused the battery to run the car for an extended period of time, sucking it down to nothing. I never replaced the battery after this occured, when I fixed the wire it solved the problem. ANyhow it blew a 2nd time and then I replaced the alternator and the voltage regulator, but still didnt replace the battery. The battery got run down to nothing on 2 seperate occasions. The guy at the store said that since the battery was damaged (and when it was tested it was crap) that it caused the system to think it needed charging constantly, which might have burned out the alternator, or it could have been a bad alternator to begin with who knows? But I got alternator replaced and bought a new battery (with more CCR and 18month warranty) so I will install and see how it goes for the next few months.

Thanks for all the input guys.

always helpful.

caesar