HAMBer broke down

Denise just called, Rudy is having electrical problems in Findley. They think they have a charging problem licked, but in case help is needed, any HAMB people close by?

 

I just got off the phone with Denise - they have everything worked out and are back on the road

Had to change the alternator and get a new battery in Findley, and apparently that fixed the problem They're about an hour away from Columbus now

 

Good. Rudy seemed to think a battery would fix it, but you never know.

 

Tell him to check the ground of the system...... that problem took a lot of time and more than a few parts before it was figured out.....

 

Did they make it ok ?

 

Im on my way!!!!!!!!!!!!!...hey hoser wheres your cape

 

As far as I know, haven't heard anything else from them.

 

Thanks for eveyones concern. We made it to Columbus ok, just a 3 1/2 hour trip took 7 hours
The guys thought problem was solved but by Saturday nite, VooDoo Child wouldn't start again. Roadstar can fill ya in on the details. How he "solved" it might help someone else.

 

Ah yes the joys of driving these cars.

Well, it seems the replacement alt wasn't a true "One wire" alt. And the one on the 40 is. That means just that, there is ONLY one wire .

Well...The parts guy at the local auto Zone looked up what he thought would be a one wire application. Well, IT wasn't and without the no's 1 and 2 terminals hooked up the alt wouldn't charge. But we'll get back to that.

We changed the alt that they sold me and things seemed like they were going to be OK so we fired the car and drove off. It was dusk so I turned the lites on and we headed for a restaurant and when we got there the battery was so low it wouldn't restart the car. **** now what.

After we ate I decided to go back to the auto Zone and have then check the battery this time and we took the alt back off and had them check that just to be sure.

OS the battery checks out bad. So they say. Later I find out it was too dead to actually check properly. So anyway I buy a new battery and put it in and things are go for takeoff. WE get to Columbus in about 2 more hours driving at night with the lites on and everything's seems OK.

The next day it starts fine in the morning and we go to the fairgrounds and I'm thinking the replacement alt is working like my onewire and everything is OK. so when we went to leave I ran the air and cruised back to the hotel. When I got to the hotel I nociced the volt guage low and it wouldn't start back up. Now I'm sick to my stomach

What the f@$#% is the problem. We eat (Me without much of an appe***e) and then off to find another Out Zone. We take the alt back off and I'm thinking It's a rebuilt and it had to be bad. No such luck . It check outs 14 volts with a load, nothing wrong here. So I take the battery out and tell him I just bought this last night here's the receipt it must be bad right?

So he says it's too low to test properly and he will have to charge it first to see if it's bad. Well, that made scence to me, but then I realized I may have given up a perfectly good battery the night before because it too was actually to dead to load test (dumb thinking,or lack of on my part).

45 minutes later the battery is charged up and the guy proudly boast there is nothing wrong with it either. Now I'm sick to my stomach again

What could be happening here? So I start to think real hard and realize the alt I have here is not a true One Wire alt and I need to wire it like a normal 3 wire internal regulated alt (most common before the super simple "TRUE" One wire alt.

So now it's McGiver time I have an electrical tool box with me and I get to work. I had a small 12 volt bulb and socket with two leads that I wired into the no. 1 terminal also marked "R" for resistance, and brought the other wire from the socket to an ignition source witch happened to be the electric choke lead.

With that in place I. Jumpered the no. 2 terminal to the battery lead terminal on the alt, Like most after market kits have you do...

OK moment of truth, I turn the key on the lite comes on
So far so good. Start the car the lite goes off.
things are looking up and thinking I really need a beer

So now the alt is wired like it should be and it is turning on the regulator inside. Which it wasn't doing with only the single battery wire connected.

Everything was fine for the rest of the trip. Now the new 3 wire alt was working like it was supposed to.

So if any of this info can help anyone here that will be a good thing. If the story was intertaining at my expense I can laugh now too. But being broke down hundreds of miles from home has to be looked at like an adventure