Attempted to drive the GS yesterday but after about 10 miles the generator idiot light came on and stayed on. I high- tailed it back to the house- didn't notice anything unusual besides the light being on which made me extremely paranoid. Car has new Wells external voltage regular, newly rebuilt correct alternator, and fairly new battery. Any place that would be recommended for me to start and check out? My level of trust for this car continues to be highly challenged! Thanks!
Was the light on full bright, or was it dim? If it was dim, you may have a voltage regulator or alternator problem. If it's full bright, you may have a bad connection at the alternator or voltage regulator. I had an alternator once that would give me trouble, Turned out I could never tighten the lead to the alternator because the post would just spin inside the alternator housing and never get tight. ~edit- this comes up all the time, it seems. here's a reply to another member with thses troubles: Also, check the pigtail connection under the rubber boot! I had an alternator that had the contact just spin inside, the nut never would get tight. Also, double check your connections on the voltage regulator, with the power off and battery disconected. Sometimes they feel good and snug and just aren't. Here's the path of current flow in various conditions. This is from the '70 Chassis manual, but it should be identical to the '71: "With the ignition switch turned on (engine not running), current flow is through the ignition switch, through the generator light in the instrument cluster, in the "4" terminal of the regulator, through the lower contacts of the voltage regulator (held closed by the spring) out the "F" terminal, in the "F" terminal of the generator, through the brush and slip ring, through the field, through another brush and slip ring to ground. Before the engine is started, the generator light should glow at about 1/2 brightness. This is because the voltage in the circuit before the light is about 12 volts, but the voltage at the "4" terminal after the light is about 5 volts. This makes the effective voltage across the generator light 7 volts for about 1/2 brightness. After the engine is started, the voltage put out by the generator immediately closes the field relay. This causes battery voltage from the "3" terminal to be present at the "4" terminal. See figure 120-18 [sorry, my scanner isn't working ]. Since battery voltage is present on both sides of the generator light, the light goes out."
thanks Chris! Chris, I'll give a look towards your suggestions over the weekend. Hoping it's something simple and I will check all the obvious connections first. Thanks for the input!
