What voltage should I see coming from the Voltage Regulator on the firewall on the brown wire that leads to the fuse panel/block? I assume it should be between 12 and 14 volts. I have 12.6 volts at the battery when not running, 13.8 volts at the battery with the engine running, but only 1.9 volts coming from the voltage regulator on the brown wire. I noticed this issue while trying to troubleshoot why my turn signals were not working. I checked the voltage coming to the flasher relay and only got 1.9 volts. I traced it back to the voltage regulator. I wouldn't think that 1.9 volts would be enough to trigger the flasher relay. Pretty sure the voltage regulator is bad, but wanted to run it by you guys before I ordered one. Can anyone confirm what I am thinking or offer another suggestion? Thanks for your help.

 

I think you might have had a bad ground during your testing or something wrong with that particular circuit. 13.8 at the battery while running means your regulator is working. It may get a bit higher with an incease in RPM.

 

Ok well my biggest question is why am I only getting 1.9 volts coming out of the regulator to the fuse panel? I have used the engine block as a ground, and also the negative post on the battery as the ground with the same reading (I have long leads on my voltmeter so I can reach both the wire coming from the voltage regulator and the battery). I am not getting enough voltage to run anything in the interior, so that is what I am trying to troubleshoot. The voltage that powers the fuse panel comes directly from the voltage regulator, right?

 

The brown wire I believe feeds the gen light? The red wire feeds the fuse block through the bulkhead connector off the horn relay junction post. Follow the red wire from the fuse box to the blower motor relay and to the ignition switch.

 

Essentially none. That is the wire that operates the GEN light. It should be at about 13.8V, and the other side of the light should be about 13.8V, so that no current flows between them and the light doesn't light.
If the alternator conks out, the brown wire would essentially revert to ground, and the 12V or so on the other side of the light would flow through the filament, lighting the bulb.

Your regulator is working fine. Stop messing with it.

Or at least look at the wiring diagram.

- Eric

 

I really don't like your tone MDchanic. I come on here for help, and to help others, not be talked down to by you. You were rude to me on a previous topic and I didn't say anything, but apparently this is a pattern of how you talk to people. I'm not messing with anything. I am trying to diagnose a problem and I am looking at a wiring diagram. Maybe you should look at the diagram for '66 and you will see why I was confused. Please do not respond to any of my posts anymore as I don't want your help if it has to come with you being rude.

oldcutlass, Thank you for your help. I see now that the brown wire feeds the GEN light. My confusion came from the fact that this brown wire that leaves the Voltage Regulator splits off after it goes through the Bulkhead Connector and one wire goes to feed the GEN light and the other wire goes to the ACC connection on the ignition switch, according to the '66 wiring diagram. The ACC connection has a second brown wire leading to the "Flasher" and to the fuse panel. The diagram makes it look like these two wires are connected together, therefore transmitting to same voltage. Please look at the attached diagram to see what I am talking about. I was trying to find out where the brown wire that connects to the "Flasher" receives its power, as I am only getting 1.9 volts on this brown wire when I activate the turn signal switch. Last night, I took some more voltage readings, and I think the root cause for my problem is that I am only getting 1.9 volts to the fuse panel, or at least to the areas of it that I have tested. These are my voltage readings with the car off but ignition switch turned on/run:

Battery: 12.6 volts
Horn Relay: 12.6 volts
Red Wire at Voltage Regulator: 12.6 volts
Brown Wire at Voltage Regulator: 1.9 volts
Red Wire leaving Horn Relay heading to Bulkhead Connector that leads to interior of car: 12.6 volts
Ignition 12V+ spade connector on fuse panel: 1.9 volts
Brown Wire that connects to "Flasher": 1.9 volts while activating turn signal
Brown Wire that connects to "Flasher": 0 volts while not activating turn signal
Purple Wire that connects to "Flasher": 0 volts at all times

The end result of all of this is that I am only getting 1.9 volts to the "Flasher" when the turn signal is activated, which isn't enough to make anything happen. The ACC connection on the ignition switch (brown wire) should get its voltage from the BATT connection on the ignition switch (red wire), correct? I will check the voltage on that red wire tonight. Theoretically, I should be getting 12.6 volts there since I am getting 12.6 volts on the Red wire leading into the Bulkhead connector in the engine compartment. Thanks again for your help. If you can think of something else or somewhere else that I can look to identify my problem, let me know.

 

Sorry for the basic question, but have you checked the bulkhead connectors? Are the terminals clean, is it seated fully? Do any of the ext lights work?

 

Randy,

I have made sure that the connectors are seated all the way, I did not pull them off and check them though. I figured they might be fragile and did not want to take them apart unless I absolutely needed to. The brake lights work, the headlights work, the running lights work, the dash lights work. The reverse lights do not work as they are not connected. My car was originally an automatic, and was converted to a 4 speed about 20 years before I bought it. The reverse light system was never set back up. It is on my list of things to get to, but I am trying to get the turn signals working first.

 

I don't have a wiring diagram for a 66 Cutlass but do for a Chevelle. I think the wiring is very similar as an "A" body is an "A" body. If you follow the red wire on my schematic it goes through the bulkhead connector and there is either a splice or junction block that shows 4 other terminations. 1. The light switch, 2. Ignition switch, 3. Cigar lighter, 4. Heater blower relay, and from there to the fuse box.
Color66wiringdiagramlefthalf300dpi.jpg


Color66wiringdiagramrighthalf300dpi.jpg

 

I attached the '66 Cutlass wiring diagram that I am going by to my previous post.

 

Very similar, what are the 3 fuses that the red wire connects to? Can't read the print.

 

Being the total jerk that I am, I will tell you how to troubleshoot your problem, and then you can put me on your "Ignore" list, and you will never have to hear from me again (unless you actually need help, anyway). Heaven knows how little assistance I provide to others on this list.

You are correct that the heavy red wire at the ignition switch is the feed, and that it should read 12.6v to ground at all times.

The power for the signal lights, radio, heater blower, and wipers all feed off of the Brown ACC wire from the ignition switch, when the switch is turned to either RUN or ACC (I believe there is no power when turned to START).

The other Brown wire (Brown with a White stripe) is a 10 Ohm resistor, and goes from the ACC terminal to feed additional current to the Field coil when first starting the car, to get the alternator charging faster than would be possible using only the current that can flow through the ALT light on the dashboard.

The signal lights are powered through the flasher from the Brown ACC line, which should be 12.6v whenever the ignition switch is at ACC or RUN. This voltage depends on the position of the ignition switch, and NOT on that of the signal light switch, which controls the current that comes FROM the flasher through the Purple wire.

In order to tell where the problem is, you need to determine whether the Radio, Heater fan, and Wipers are working or not.
If they are, then the ignition switch, the wire from it to the fuse block, the fuse block, and the fuses are working fine, and the problem is between the brown wire to the flasher and the signal light switch (including the flasher).

If they are not, then it is likely that your ignition switch is bad.

You're welcome.

- Eric

 

MDchanic,

Thank you for your very informative post. I appreciate your help, always have, and I have read other posts of yours while searching other topics and you certainly contribute a lot of knowledge to the board. I will not be putting you on my ignore list. Everybody has their own personality and style. I took yours as being a little bit on the abrasive side. Maybe I was being a little sensitive, over it now.

After more testing, I concluded again that I was not receiving the correct voltage on the Brown wire leading to the flasher. This was due to a faulty ignition switch, as you suggested could be the culprit. I ordered a new one, installed it, and immediately received 12.6 Volts on the Brown wire leading to the flasher, and the turn signal and flasher functions are working perfectly now, along with the wipers, etc.

Problem solved. On to the next one.

- 98form

 

Good job, glad it's fixed. We all have our own way of expressing ourselves and as readers we cannot judge expressions. I assure you we all really do try to help and sometimes the intent gets misconstrued.

 

I'm snarky. Sorry. I'm like that in person, too.

In your case (and nothing personal here: All I have to go by are a few words on a screen), you asked a simple question ("What voltage should I see coming from the Voltage Regulator on the firewall on the brown wire that leads to the fuse panel/block?"), to which I offered a simple answer ("Essentially none.").
The problem was that you had glanced at the wiring diagram without actually reading it and the text of the Chassis Service Manual over the next two pages, which would have answered the question for you, and would have saved you a lot of wasted time trying to troubleshoot things that weren't wrong.

I have a thing about people asking questions that are easily answered from the manual (such as "What is the torque for X fastener?" or "What is the value of X fuse?"), though when people don't have a manual and need the answer right away, I certainly understand.

In your case, you had actually looked at the manual, but hadn't read it, and had gone off on a completely nonproductive tangent, which you wouldn't have done if you'd just read the manual first, and you asked your question based on your (unnecessarily) incorrect assumption, rather than based on your actual problem ("What voltage should I see here?" rather than "My signal lights have completely stopped working - How can I find out why?"), which is the sort of thing that can send all of the responses along your tangent as well, and away from actually fixing your problem, which I will admit I found annoying.

So, anyway, distinguishing myself from our President, I will actually apologize and say that I am sorry for writing such a snarky response. All you were doing was trying to fix your car.
On the other hand, I will also say, please don't take these things personally, as none of us here is actually hostile, and we all really do want you to get your car fixed (unlike some boards, where people will just bust your (hex) nuts for fun).

I'm glad you got it fixed, and I'm glad you reported back so that others can know what the problem was, and I'm sorry that my reply was too harsh.

- Eric