Been doing this for a while with no perceived problems... Occasionally the volt guage pulses slightly at med RPM (2000'ish)... and at night the headlights tend to pulse slightly... car never misses. Is this the volt regulator or alternator? Are there diodes in the alt. and can they be changed out? And is there a PART NUMBER or specs on the diodes? I don't have a manual nor good parts supplier - I'm thinking of using NAPA from now on for some consistency in getting parts. My car is a 72 with original 200c.i. six. - no A/C Thanks! Whiskeeeee
I would check the grounds! I had a simular thing a few years back..got worse whenever my stereo(used to pulse to the music) was on... cleaned up the grounds and put in a few ground straps between the engine and frame and never had a problem again
Could be the battery getting weak and not taking the charge too. That happened with mine and a battery cured it, but it was only happening at idle. Could also be the contacts on the headlight switch. I bet the "relay mod" would cure it if that's the case.
Good connections? but if they are good i would lean towards the Regulator. Or just upgrade to a 3G Alternator! Took care of my problem!!
Dirty connection at feild wire from voltage regulator to alt.At least this was the problem with my blue mav.
Mine was the regulator causing it. I bought a mechanical reproduction regulator and it pulsed badly. I swapped the housing over to a late model electronic regulator and that fixed the problem. So now it looks like an original Autolite but has current technology.
If all the above fails. I had a mustang with the floor dimmer switch that would over heat with or without high beams on and would cause them to flicker finally they would go out for a min or so before coming back on. That was exciting until I got it straight.
Mine does the same thing....and I suspected the reproduction voltage regulator. Where would one get a electronic regulator and how would one know it was electronic?
all of the aftermarket ones that you get at your local parts house are electronic. the come in a smaller casing so you'll notice it right off the bat....
Had that problem for years. When the car quit running, ran the problem down to the resistance wire to the coil. Don't need it with electronic ignition, so I replaced the wire with a 16ga wire from the ignition switch to the connector outside of the harness penetration on the firewall. Solved the problem, got the car running a lot better also. Resistance wire just hanging on by a couple strans, I suppose.
If it's an external regulator I wouldn't call it "current technology". Any problems with your electronic regulator not charging at idle? I ran one almost 20 years ago, it was worse than the mechanical one. Maybe I just had a bad one or they've improved since then.
I replaced the negative battery cable on my '74. The original cable had a wire from the terminal that was connected to the radiator support. The new cable had none. I thought "so what". First drive at night and the headlights were pulsing. I put a wire from the neg. terminal to the radiator support and no more pulsing.
Like dmhines said switch the housing from your old mech. regulator to the new base and it looks original.
Thanks guys!.... I still have the 'pulsing' but it's minor. Just keep my eyes on the gauges for errant behaviour. However, I did remove/clean/scuff-up and re-tighten the aluminiumiumium ground tab that screws to the block under the alternator. It was tight but greasy before. Now the voltage went up and the car is even smoother than before... notice the cold start is better. Stupid little things like that, and it's a noticeable improvement in the car already. I suppose alum. is a less than ideal conductor to begin with, esp when corroded and greasy, and the ignition isn't super high voltage anyway, so a decent ground is the most important connection in the car.
