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1964 Polara overcharging

Yes all the wires in this car look very questionable, the wiring under the dash is where the true mess is. Fuse box hanging loose, loose wire ends all over. Im very surprised that everything works (except for the charging issue).
The car would really need a complete rewire, but im postponing that for as long as possible lol. Electrical systems is not really my area.
But classic industries has wiring harnesses both for the engine compartment and under dash at a fairly reasonable price.

No i forgot about the gauge actually, im gonna try that tonight.

No, my local electrical shop charged almost as much as the cost of a new alternator including shipping to sweden just for testing it, so i bought a new one instead.
 
megaparts.com has a wiring harness for around 200.00 US.
wow on cost to check alternator.
I highly suggest you find a CD copy of the 1964 dodge factory service manual. You get that and your life will be sooo much easier. trust me.
 
I have now tried to disconnect the voltmeter in the car with No improvement. I also installed the new alternator and i replaced the voltage regulator once more just to be sure and Still the same problem, only that it might have started climbing a lot earlier.

And this time the VR started smoking bad, wich i have not seen before. And also all the lights flicker, front, rear and dash/interior.

I Guess we probably could rule this out as some wiring problem, Short to ground or something? What could make this problem occur?

Update:
Checked all ground points, removed and sanded to bare metal before installing again.

Tried to check the wiring under dash and in the engine bay for any obvious faults but nothing.

Still the same problem.
 
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I have now tried to disconnect the voltmeter in the car with No improvement. I also installed the new alternator and i replaced the voltage regulator once more just to be sure and Still the same problem, only that it might have started climbing a lot earlier.

And this time the VR started smoking bad, wich i have not seen before. And also all the lights flicker, front, rear and dash/interior.

I Guess we probably could rule this out as some wiring problem, Short to ground or something? What could make this problem occur?

Update:
Checked all ground points, removed and sanded to bare metal before installing again.

Tried to check the wiring under dash and in the engine bay for any obvious faults but nothing.

Still the same problem.
Have you unplugged the engine wiring harness at the firewall and examined the terminals for signs of corrosion and overheating?
You may want to make sure terminals are clean.. I would take your ohm meter and start checking resistance at the bulkhead connection and where the other end connects to say voltage regulator, etc. this is where factory service manual comes in handy. I would unplug headlight wiring harness from bulkhead and see what happens. But still check the resistance in the wire
 
I have, the pins where a bit dirty but nothing out of the ordinary. I cleaned Them up though.

I ohmed the cable from the bulkhead to the regulator and it was okay. I noticed that its wired via the ballast resistor, could the failure of this part result in problems like this?

I also disconnected the headlight harness but Still the same.

Then i made a jumper wire from the battery to the voltage regulator and then it charged about 15.5V according to the multimeter and 14 according to the in car voltmeter, and did not climb further. So the problem has to be in the VR circuit.
 
I have, the pins where a bit dirty but nothing out of the ordinary. I cleaned Them up though.

I ohmed the cable from the bulkhead to the regulator and it was okay. I noticed that its wired via the ballast resistor, could the failure of this part result in problems like this?

I also disconnected the headlight harness but Still the same.

Then i made a jumper wire from the battery to the voltage regulator and then it charged about 15.5V according to the multimeter and 14 according to the in car voltmeter, and did not climb further. So the problem has to be in the VR circuit.

The ballast is for ignition, and depending on if its points or factory electronic ignition will determine ohm resistance. I am at a loss here being half a world away. I would get the factory service manual and look at the wiring schematics really close.
I would ohm all the wires in the engine harness. even ones going to the alternator. How is your ignition switch? I would be curious if you bypassed it and hotwired to start and see the voltage values. Wonder if there is a dead short in the switch, same goes for headlight switch too, unplug it see what happens.. It is going to be something simple
 
I will try bypassing the ignition switch and unplug the headlight switch, as you say its probably going to be something easy.

What is this printed circuit connector in the wiring scheme? I noticed that the black wire going to "Pin H" on that shares the same pin on the ignition switch as the DK Blue wire going to the voltage regulator.

Edit: I just realised it has to be for the gauges, and the black wire goes to the ammeter right?

And edit again: Looking at the wiring scheme once again i noticed that the ammeter is shown separately. So what is that printed circuit connector?

I really suspect the ignition switch being the culprit here the more i think about it, when studying the wiring scheme there isnt that much that can cause this problem. My theory right now is that there is a voltage drop of some sort inside the switch, and therefore i only get the 6.5V at the regulator that then tries to up the voltage by overcharging. Ordered a new ignition switch today so will hopefully get it before the weekend.

printed circuit connector.jpg
 
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Well neither the ignition switch or the lights switch was the troublemaker, and i also replaced the ballast resistor just to be sure. Still the same problem.

I also noticed something very Odd. When i just start it and let it Idle, no lights flicker. But if i rev it Up just once all the lights start to flicker and continues to flicker att Idle.
If i then turn it off and start it again without revving - No flickering.

Right now i just feel like letting this p.o.s burn to the ground
 
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Well neither the ignition switch or the lights switch was the troublemaker, and i also replaced the ballast resistor just to be sure. Still the same problem.
Have you ..or was the factory ammeter bypassed before you got the car?
if it is still wired up and you have the aftermarket voltage gauge wired together I wonder if there is some sort of interference between them..depending on how it was wired up.
When you say you have lights flickering, what is the voltage at the battery...does it still climb over 14.7 volts?
If you have it running and things seem to be ok charging wise, I would check voltage at various spots..to see if its consistent. I do not remember..does voltage go crazy when headlights are on? how about if you use floor dimmer switch?
I would rubber glove up, and when car is running wiggle the wires on wiring harness in engine compartment.. see if there is an intermittent short. Also since you said wiring harness is sketchy. I would ohm test the wires from firewall plug to where the other end plugs into. I'm sure there some info on the net that can give you ball park measures for how many ohms should be in a particular wire over the length of it.

I also noticed something very Odd. When i just start it and let it Idle, no lights flicker. But if i rev it Up just once all the lights start to flicker and continues to flicker att Idle.
If i then turn it off and start it again without revving - No flickering.

Right now i just feel like letting this p.o.s burn to the ground
 
The factory ammeter is still connected, but i have also tried to disconnect the aftermarket voltage gauge and the problem persists.

The voltage at the batteri is around 16-17V while running, pretty much no difference when lights are on, the voltage drops a little maybe to 15-16V. I have not tried to depress the dimmer switch, gonna try that tonight.

I did that yesterday, wiggled the harnesses. Both the engine bay one and the under dash wiring, with no luck.

The last thing i did though was unplugged the engine bay harness and did a Continuity test. And every single one of the cables in that harness had continuity to the voltage regulator, wich is very very odd. Also a lot of those cables had continuity to ground as well.

Maybe something is fried inside the engine bay harness.
 
The factory ammeter is still connected, but i have also tried to disconnect the aftermarket voltage gauge and the problem persists.

The voltage at the batteri is around 16-17V while running, pretty much no difference when lights are on, the voltage drops a little maybe to 15-16V. I have not tried to depress the dimmer switch, gonna try that tonight.

I did that yesterday, wiggled the harnesses. Both the engine bay one and the under dash wiring, with no luck.

The last thing i did though was unplugged the engine bay harness and did a Continuity test. And every single one of the cables in that harness had continuity to the voltage regulator, wich is very very odd. Also a lot of those cables had continuity to ground as well.

Maybe something is fried inside the engine bay harness.

I would bypass the factory ammeter. just connect the wires to complete the circuit. the ammeter might be on its way out. 16 -17 volts way too high. easy enough to by pass ammeter to test.
When testing wiring harness you are disconnecting the wire from the alternator and other items etc when you test? you might not get a true reading if you leave connected. How many ohms do you have from bulkhead connector to the voltage regulator? the wire that goes to alternator? what are those numbers?
You have a good engine ground wire? not just battery ground wire...a ground from back of the block to firewall.
 
The factory ammeter bypassed, still the same problem. Also now i have lost turn indicators and instrument cluster light again, even though i didnt touch anything. It feels like this will never be fixed until i replace the whole under dash harness, so maybe i will just have to bite the bullet.
I would prefer if the engine blew up instead of this, i really hate electrical issues and feel i dont have the knowledge, fysique or patience to replace the harness under the dash. Maybe i will have to pay someone else to do it.
 
How bad of a job is it to get the dash harness out? Im thinking maybe i can redo it myself on the bench at work. I cant find a new harness under 550$, and with shipping, tax and toll to sweden its just to damn expensive.

Or maybe a painless harness is easy enough to adapt to the Polara? Its not like its a original restoration anyway.
 
How bad of a job is it to get the dash harness out? Im thinking maybe i can redo it myself on the bench at work. I cant find a new harness under 550$, and with shipping, tax and toll to sweden its just to damn expensive.

Or maybe a painless harness is easy enough to adapt to the Polara? Its not like its a original restoration anyway.

I would say its up to you. once you remove cluster you'll see first hand the wires and its a yes or no at that time. I would say if you can get proper terminal ends so you can reuse the oem harness connectors give it a shot, same goes for engine compartment harness (s) 1 engine 1 headlight.
if it was me, I would try redoing engine harness and see how it goes before I would tackle under dash harness.
 
I forgot about this thread and realised i should maybe update you guys. It seems the ammeter was the problem after all, i did bypass it earlier but the problem persisted.
The thing is that the new regulator i installed was burnt, and when i replaced that again it now seems to work. I have driven about 600 miles with the new engine and so far it charges normally.
 
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