Posted by mark dingbaum on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 at 11:26AM :
In Reply to: Re: Normally no ground wire is needed posted by Bill on Tuesday, August 06, 2002 at 6:32PM :
Hi,
The electronic regulator controls voltage by allowing the 'ground' on the field to float up (not really ground). You cannot have one field wire grounded or the regulator will not work. Now, the real question, what wire do you hook up from the regulator?
I am going by memory here, but I think there are two wires in the triangle regulator plug (blue and green?), where do these go now? I believe one should go to the + field terminal and one should go to the ground field terminal. I don't think it makes a difference which color goes to which terminal. I'd guess one of these wires is not hooked up in the current configuration and the 'crutch' to allow it to work is the ground wire you've added.
Make sure the wiring from regulator to alternator is correct (a 70s and later schematic would be useful here). I'll check one of my mopars at home tonite to see how they're wired. The regulator needs a good ground through the case, make sure it is mounted on metal and a toothed star washer is good insurance. A separate ground wire back to the negative battery terminal is the best. This can be a light wire (16-18) I think.
let me know how it goes,
mark