electric problem

H

Hal

New member
Hi All,

I'm having a bit of am electrical problem with a '31 town car.

When I start the car, the ammeter reads charging at 10 amps. When I turn on the headlights, (with the car running) the ammeter shows -12 amps. When the car is not running and the lights turned on, the ammeter shows a -12 amps.

I tried replacing the cutout on the generator but the cutout became very hot to the touch and smoke boiled out of the dash where the ammeter was located. I reinstalled the old cutout and it still works as before.

Any advice or ideas what I'm doing wrong?
 
Are you sure the wires on the cut out are in the proper postion. The wire to the headlight harness and the wire going to the terminal box should be on the same (BAT) connection on the cutout.
 
Remove the dash and make sure no wires or terminals are touching the gas tank. Also make sure the amp meter terminals are clean and tight. A poor connection means heat, and enough heat can make smoke.
 
The new wiring harness is in the correct position and all connections looks good. Removed the dash and inspected and did some minor house keeping.

Charging appears normal (10 amps) until I turn on the headlights. Then the ammeter jumps to a negative 12 amps. Reinstalled the new cutout and have the exact same system behavior. Also, I tried bypassing the cutout when running and it made no difference (from +10 amps lights off to -12 amps lights on).

I can't make any sense out of this......
 
Does ammeter seem to behave correctly otherwise? Show a few amps discharge when ignition is first turned on; add ten or so amps discharge to the lights' -12 when you blow the horn with lights on, and then a few more when you step on brake? Does it go to zero with everything off? Does charging rate vary with engine speed, as you'd expect?

Are these regular headlights, or halogens?

Is there any other recent wiring creativity (e.g., turn signals, 3rd brakelight,...) that might be a player?

Are the cutouts original style, or diodes, or what?

You're right: it doesn't make sense.

Steve
 
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