Last week my wife and I were going to do a short cruise in the '57. Took off with no problems, A/C blowing. Got about 30 seconds into the drive and the A/C blower flicked off and back on. Gen light flickered on at the same time.
Hmm, wierd. Pressed on and of course in 20 more seconds it turned off for good and the gen light was in various stages of being lit all the way home.
Told my wife the alternator had to be acting up. Pulled into the garage and put my voltmeter on it and it was fluctuating in output. Not sure what it should do in terms of output all the time but that seemed wierd. Why the A/C blower would stop working was also very strange.
Pulled the alternator and ran it up to Hi-Lo (I can call it Hi-Lo instead of O'Rielly since I still have a Hi-Lo oil recycle bucket) and he tested it on his machine and PASS. I say no way. He says all is well.
Hmm, put it back on yesterday and charged my battery just in case. I've got one of the Optima Red-Tops and while I don't believe it was related I thought perhaps there could be some issue since they don't take a charge like a "normal" battery.
Went out this morning and pop her off. Solid red gen light. Wierd! Put the voltmeter on the charging post of the alternator and zip. No output. Pulled it back off to try a different place to test it. Has to be a bad alternator.
I have a 10si type internally-regulated chrome unit that has been flawless to date.
Any ideas on whether the a/c blower is related? I suppose they could have wired its hot wire directly to the charging post although I can't tell without unwrapping everything.
Does the '57 pull its accessory current off the starter/battery connection? I guess it'd have to since there is no accessory pigtail coming off the battery. I bought the car basically done and it has not been totally rewired. Much of the stuff around the fuse box looks stock and the stuff behind the dash was stock when I had the instrument cluster off. Stuff in the engine compartment looks new.
Thanks for your input.
Hmm, wierd. Pressed on and of course in 20 more seconds it turned off for good and the gen light was in various stages of being lit all the way home.
Told my wife the alternator had to be acting up. Pulled into the garage and put my voltmeter on it and it was fluctuating in output. Not sure what it should do in terms of output all the time but that seemed wierd. Why the A/C blower would stop working was also very strange.
Pulled the alternator and ran it up to Hi-Lo (I can call it Hi-Lo instead of O'Rielly since I still have a Hi-Lo oil recycle bucket) and he tested it on his machine and PASS. I say no way. He says all is well.
Hmm, put it back on yesterday and charged my battery just in case. I've got one of the Optima Red-Tops and while I don't believe it was related I thought perhaps there could be some issue since they don't take a charge like a "normal" battery.
Went out this morning and pop her off. Solid red gen light. Wierd! Put the voltmeter on the charging post of the alternator and zip. No output. Pulled it back off to try a different place to test it. Has to be a bad alternator.
I have a 10si type internally-regulated chrome unit that has been flawless to date.
Any ideas on whether the a/c blower is related? I suppose they could have wired its hot wire directly to the charging post although I can't tell without unwrapping everything.
Does the '57 pull its accessory current off the starter/battery connection? I guess it'd have to since there is no accessory pigtail coming off the battery. I bought the car basically done and it has not been totally rewired. Much of the stuff around the fuse box looks stock and the stuff behind the dash was stock when I had the instrument cluster off. Stuff in the engine compartment looks new.
Thanks for your input.
