Tedd Thompson

The last generator I had put on my 55 lasted four months before it quit charging, actually the bearings went out,really this is the second one as the first squalled on the first revolution of startup, belt was not tight eather. Anyway the shop and my guy that installed it stood behind the generator and put on a new one.

Today on the way home (about 30 miles) I noticed that it quit charging, I mean already, so I stopped along side the road and called my guy at his shop and told him of my grief. "Bring her back tomorrow and we will check her out" says he, no problem. Less than 1/4 a mile from home the amp gauge suddenly jumps to 30 amps discharge. I.ve been watching it like a hawk the whole way and I start to get the smell of hot electrical wiring as I pull in to the garage smoke drifts from he hood, I've got a electrical fire in the main loom and the generator is smoking. I pulled the hot lead and eventually alls well as far as losing the whole car but a complete rewire is going to be in order, just what I need in the middle of the cruising car show season. If I had any luck at all it would be bad luck....Tedd

lshlsh2

That sucks. Glad it is not a total loss.

I had a short in my 68. The cabin filled with smoke, got the car over to the side of the road. The panic came when I was trying to get my 18 month old daughter out of the back seat. Short burned itself out and was the fastest I ever worked a child safety seat. Some wiring later had it back on the road.

Larry

Lady72nRob71

Dang Tedd, sorry to hear!
A pegged ammeter is something to be concerned about. The gen may have shorted internally. Even shutting it down might not have prevented the fire.
Here is a good reason to have not only an extinguisher, but a pair of tin snips or small bolt cutters to cut a battery cable to rid the short. A persistent large short can keep fires going even when trying to put them out.

The good luck here is that this did not happen on your long road trip a few months back and that the car did not burn, taking your garage with it.
The wiring will be much easier.

Let us know what the exact cause of this was when it is confirmed - I am curious.

66-3X2 442

I saw a generator with alternator guts on a 61 Chevy. I thought that was neat to have an alternator that looked like a generator. It was made by some vendor,not homemade.

oldcutlass

Powermaster makes those alternators that look like generators. Hopefully your issue is limited to a couple of wires Ted. It's misfortunate, however it's better than having to deal with it during your road trip this year.

Tedd Thompson

Here are a few shots of the harness, I'm lucky it didn't happen 100 yards sooner I would be showing you pictures of a toasted 55. The damage so far is from the generator to the firewall and may also include the dash wires to the fuse block. Here are the pic.....Tedd

oldcutlass

It looks a lot like what happened to my car prior to me getting it. I removed the engine harness and unwrapped it. Ended up replacing only a couple of wires after peeling the fried ones out. Wrapped it back up and have not had any issues since.

Olds5798

Hey Teddy, so sorry about that short circuit. Makes me wonder why it hasn't happened to me yet as I don't even have a gauge. LOL Glad you got the fire out as that sweetheart is still looking great. Don't worry you'll be up and around before you know it.
Don Horvath

ignachuck

Tedd, we all know of your love for your car through your valuable notes and your helpful advice to us vintage owners. My 56 Super 88 is a better car because of reading your notes. I look forward to reading about a happy ending to this set back.

All the best,
Frank

Yellowstatue

I have had persistent problems with my generator/regulator system for three years now. First time around as I walked away from my car the smoke started to roll from under the hood. Key was in acc position for wife to listen to radio. Had to rewire from generator to regulator. Then it was OK for a while. While on the way to Reno the gen light came on in Wyoming on a Sunday. No repair shop! Bought extra battery at Wally World. Ran in daylight on battery. Holiday Monday in Salt Lake City! Ran on battery to Reno and found repair shop to rebuild gen and set-up regulator. Came home and still have off and on problems with charging...at the moment, after fiddling with the reg. field adjustment for a few minutes, we are able to take drives with one eye on the volt meter and generator light. I want to get one of those gen/alternator rigs but I don't like the look of an alternator on an old car. I have lots of alternators from my small herd of Oldsmobiles!

lazy394

I have fitted one of these, 90 amp and its a beaut!!

Tedd Thompson

Probably you know this but if your charging is intermittent I would think the voltage regulator is suspect. This is probably what went south on my car but I haven't dove in to it as yet I generally replace the voltage regulator at the same time as the generator but skipped that this time. It will be awhile before I get involved in this I have another project that has taken all my money and time and is almost finished so the Mistress will have to wait her turn....Tedd

hookem horns

Sucks, but glad it happened close to home and you did not end up with a car-b-q on your recent big road trip. You really drive that car a lot which is fantastic, so that alternator disguised as a generator sounds like a worthwhile upgrade. Hope the actual damage is minimal and you are back cruising soon.