Hi all, I recently acquired a great 62 Falcon 2dr wagon(6cyl, auto) in beautiful condition,I am the second owner! it was driven daily until about 4 yrs ago when it was garaged. Today I went to do a little prelim work before driving it home 35 miles. Upon arrival the battery was dead, tires flat. I swapped in a fresh battery, pumped up tires. It fired right up and ran very well. the problem: upon hooking up the new battery the GEN light came on and would remain on even with the key out of the ignition?, the starter would turn over once and if I let off the key I would have to disconnect and reconnect the battery to get it to "reset" and turn over for another cycle. The GEN light would turn off when the car started. Then upon turning off the car, I noticed a small whisp of white smoke coming from the generator. I immediately disconnected the battery and it stopped. So, does this have anything to do with flashing the generator after replacing the battery? (I read about this here after I returned home). Any help on where to go next is much appreciated. BTW I am an experienced VW mechanic, just very little experience with early american cars. thanks, Todd
i predict that you'll find burned/stuck points in the voltage regulator. common failing from the era.
I had my generator quit on me twice in one month. It got a GM internally regulated alternator the next day. Easy enough to do, though you do have to rework the brackets slightly. It never failed again. The Falcon truck <<< has a factory alternator. Cosmo
you polarize the generator after replacing it, not after replacing the battery. As mentioned, the regulator is probably acting up, since it should disconnect the generator from the battery when the engine stops running (actually when the generator output voltage drops below a certain level). Since the light went off when it was running, it's likely that the regulator is the only thing wrong. finding one these days can be a challenge, though.Open it up and see if it's stuck.
t thank you all very much this makes perfect sense. can the points be successfully unstuck or should the regulator just be replaced? again, thanks!
if you have the box style regulator they indeed can be cleaned. same as filing ignition points, but you have to adjust them afterwards and will need non-ferrous feeler gauges to do that. one of the best things about old cars is actually being able to FIX things on them and not simply replace them.
Hi all, I wanted to thank you for your help. The Falcon is now in my driveway, we made the 40 mile trip on a 95 degree day without much issue. The regulator was the issue, a little sanding of points and all was golden. a couple of questions though, It has a vibration that starts at about 52mph, feels like it is under my feet, no sterring vibration, more engine-ish. The vibration remains when shifted into neutral. Next will be tires, wheel bearings, ujoints...any other thoughts? Also do the turn signals also act as running lights or only on when turning? pics to come, thanks! todd
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