That depends on how many ground wires you have from the engine to the body... and whether you have a 4 AGW cable running to the engine.
Paul, Thanks a million for your help. Using your tips I was able to determine that the alternator was bad and the regulator was still good. I went a head and replaced the regulator with the Alternator. I used a duralast solid state regulator (pt #VR730) so I figured going solid state cant hurt. I now have about 1.75 Volts above battery at the alt. As for the 10G wire, that only goes from the neg battery cable to the volt reg fender bolt. I do have the batt cable going to the block. One thing that did throw me for a loop, was after I put on the solid state reg, I got no ground on top of the regulator case. I then tested it at the base of the base of the case (its a two piece, body and cap) and got a good ground. Must have a gasket or something between them for weather proofing. Again, Paul, thanks for your help. It is nice to be back on the road again.
Ok, I can do that. I assume one end goes on the block bolt with the battery cable. Where would the other end go? Is there a specific bolt, or could I use any bolt? Like say the bumper-to-frame bolts that I jut put on?
Anywhere on block is good. With all most all grounds hitting on body, ground to good body ground will work. The ground you have from batt to inner fender is good, just need heavier wire.
The engine needs a battery cable connected to it because the starter draws a lot of power. The chassis (frame) needs a good ground for all the lights and accesories to work. two or three 12 or 10 awg wires is more than enough to handle the normal electrical loads but if you have a lot of accesories then you might need a #6 or #4 awg wire to ground the chassis. The ammeter ties into the main electrical supply line and it is only 10 AWG. It handles all the electrical loads except the starter.
It is alway something... So I decided to put on the 4AWG wire from the block to the frame. Put it on one of the bolts holding the regulator on, and removed the 10AWG wire already there. Started the car and my fuel gauge only went to 1/4 tank (has 1/2 tank), temp light was on, and alt light was real dim. Figured I screwed something up and the fender wasn't a good place to ground. I moved the 4AWG to one of radiator bolts. Put back the 10AWG wire to the reg, put a nut on the back side of the reg bolt to tighten it good. Same thing, Temp light, and half fuel gauge, and Alt light!!!! #$!@$!@#$, so I use 10AWG and ground the ALT. SAME THING!!!! I break out the mult meter and alt is putting out lots of voltage, and only 0.003V between my grounds. !@#$%@#$%@#$%, have no idea whats wriong. FINALY, I notice my ignition switch isn't kicking back all the way after start. So if it click it back a hair into the run position everything is fine. So 30min later, I fixed a problem I didnt have!! But now I have plenty of grounds. LOL
