Two questions: 1) With the ignition ON & not cranking, how many volts should there be at the "+" side of the coil where the pink wire is attached? I have 5.58 volts. Is that correct or close enough? 2) There are two red wires connected to the solenoid at the large post. (Joe corrected me on the terminology - fuse blocks). One, I know is for the headlights. The other appears (according to the schematic) goes to the voltage regulator. Is that its sole purpose.
With the stock resistor wiring 5-6 volts with the key on is about right. When you engage the starter, voltage is 12 volts coming from the starter solenoid. After starting, voltage usually goes to about 8+.
There should be a second wire on the coil that comes from the solenoid. It provides full battery voltage in the crank position.
Yes. As stated, the pink wire with key "on/run" and not turned to "start" supplies the lower voltage to prevent burning of the points. When the key is in the "start" position, the relay in the starter ("R" terminal) provides full voltage to the coil. (the pink wire from the engine side of the fuse block has a length of resistor wire added and under the tape. It is covered with a white braid jacket and solder connected to the pink wire). Sometimes "other people" replace the resistor wire and/or fuse links when mucking with cars... If so, that needs to be corrected. The two fusible links in the two wires at the solenoid are to protect the wiring to the "engine" and "front" harnesses and the supply wiring to the fuse block (before the fuse block protected circuits). So all the wiring before the fuse block is protected. (and absolutely necessary) One is to protect the 10 amp harness with 14 AWG, brown fusible link, and the other to protect the 12 amp harness with a black 16 AWG fusible link. The links work by being smaller gauge wire and "fail" on overload, before the harness fails or is damaged.
The 2 feed wires protected by fusible links supply power to the entire car. The smaller one (12 ga) supplies ONLY the headlights. The larger (10 ga) supplies the rest of the car. https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?t...ystem-function-tests-and-modification.248990/ With the ignition on and engine not running, a voltage measurement from the coil + to ground should be 5.0 - 5.5 volts. Disable the ignition by grounding the coil wire. Then crank the engine continuously. The reading should jump to 9 volts or more. If it doesn't, there may be a problem with the shorting switch or wiring from the solenoid "R" terminal to the coil +. That would result in a hard or no start.
The GS is back on the road. The non-start condition was resolved by installing a new set of points with a separate condenser. I re-established tdc, installed the distributor & got the rotor aligned with cyl #1 on the cap. It started right up. checked dwell & timing. Took the GS out for a 30 minute and id ran great!! Tkx for all the suggestions.
Two days ago, I start the Buick & low & behold the alternator is not charging. Not more money? Fortunately, the blue wire at the alternator had broken. Installed a new connector & all is well again.
