Re: Electrical problems on 31

Posted by Doug Linden on July 31, 1997 at 09:20:24

In Reply to: Re: Electrical problems on 31
posted by John on July 29, 1997 at 17:31:10

: : : Question 1: I just got this car, and when the lights were turned on, they burned out the lamps one by one. Question 2: Is there a maintenance manualavailable, and where can it be purchased from???
: : John: I had a similar problem with a '30 boat-tail on my way to a parade.The problem was in the generator.It was overchargin and sending too much voltage to the bulbs.Luck my wife was following and we made it through the parade and she followed me home using her headlights for my lights.Check you generator third brush setting and the cut-out relay for improper setting and / or defective parts.
: : Dave
: Dave: Thnaks for the tip. I noticed that in the process of shuting off the electrical kill switch (after replacing 1 lamp) the brightness of the lamp increased. A that point the power was coming just from the generator...Thanks again!
John,
I think Dave is on the right track, but I suspect you may have a bad ground somewhere in the charging. circuit. If the generator is not grounded properly it will produce way to much voltage which will definately burnout oyour lamps.
With a Volt meter, check the voltage of the battery at the starter terminal.It should be between 6-7Volts.Now start the motor and check the reading again.Also check the reading at the output of the cutout on the generator.They should be the same or very close.If the voltage is less than * you may be able to re-adjust the third brush, but if it's more (could be as high as 10-12 volts) then I would look for a bad ground in the charging circuit.Unfortuneately these are not easy to find, but I would try a jumper wire from a good ground to the case of the generator and see what happens.
Good luck
Doug

E-Mail Comment to Webmaster