Regulator wiring

[edwards54 15]

Hey, just so you all know I am a novice and it takes me a little while to understand things. I had a shop get my mustang running but since the car is older than everyone in the shop the wiring wasn't done correctley. I have some issues.

 

1.Guages are not running unless the lights are on and even than not all of them work. They are not grounding out trust me I checked them 3 times.

 

2.Car runs but the battery isn't charging.

 

3. When inspecting the alt. regulator there are some wires that have been clipped or have dead ends on them. I see from the diagram that there are two yellows. One of them is listed as Radio Condensor and it ends. What is that for? I will list later what else has been cut. Should I just re-run these wires according to the diagram? If it's not the wiring but is the alternator could that mess up the guages?

 

Any thoughts could be helpful

 

Thanks

Bob

[LoneWolf2U 136]

The yellow wire to the condesor for the radio was just that, a silver looking can with a wire coming out of it, Prob broke off long ago.

 

Make sure all of the other wires have a good connection and the reg is grounded. If it is the ols style reg with a screwed on cover, remove the cover and sander paper the points lightly. Retest.

 

Poor guage readings often are from missing body ground straps.

[edwards54 15]

what do you mean by missing body ground straps

[LindenBruce 27]

There is a wire that attaches to the back of the passenger side head that then attaches to the firewall behind the motor. If you don't have the engine grounded to the body, your gauges won't work correctly. Because of the motor mounts the engine is basically isolated from the rest of the electrical system without this ground strap. Bruce

[edwards54 15]

Thanks for the info on the grounding strap. Ill take a look and see if there is a grounding strap there.

 

Thanks again

Bob

[LoneWolf2U 136]

what do you mean by missing body ground straps

 

Ford used a flat braided wire from the firewall to the eng block.

While there are some eng attachment points the will allow the grounding to pass they are not sufficent enough to operate the lights and guages properly.

 

The wiring harness has several grounding eyelets thru out it, most are sheet metal screwed to the body to aid in lights and accessories to operate.

 

I also use the extra #10 ground wire molded in the neg battery cable by attaching it to the rad support. Now my headlights don't dim at idle.

[edwards54 15]

Does anyone have a picture handy of the wire going from block to firewall so I can see how this is supposed to look. I will look at eng compart pics on the site as well