QuestionQUESTION: I have feedback from the alternator and the generator light wants to stay on. My signal lights want to stay on and alternate blinking when the parking lights are on.
ANSWER: The alternate blinking when the turn signals are trying to work means that you have an ungrounded bulb socket on the bulb that is supposed to be blinking. This can be due to a loose bulb in the socket, but most likely it is due to a poor connection from the metal of the bulb socket outer housing to the car's chassis ground. This is very common in older cars that have lived east of the Rocky Mountains in the past. The cure is to clean every metal to metal contact from the bulb socket to the body sheet metal, and if that doesn't cure it, add an additional ground wire, soldered to the outer shell of the bulb socket, with the other end of the wire screwed to the body somewhere, with clean bright metal (no paint!) to make sure of a good connection.
As for your other troubles, I don't know what you mean by "feedback" and I can't even begin to diagnose the problem without knowing year, make, model of car, and especially the condition of the electrical system and if any modifications have ever been made to it. Even then, it is pretty hard to do this without seeing and testing it myself - your best bet is to take the car to an automotive electrical repair shop and have them check it out. You have either an alternator or a generator, not both - but if I know what car it is, I will be able to look up which it had, at least when it left the factory.
Dick
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QUESTION: Thankyou, now the car won't shut off only by putting it in gear.We have an alternator with external voltage regulator. It is a 1970 chevelle.
ANSWER: OK, thanks for the additional info. Tell me this: When you try to turn off the engine, do you hear a different noise, with clicking and banging or knocking from under the hood? If so, your car is dieseling - which is caused by a buildup of carbon in the cylinders, and/or too high an idle speed setting and/or a failed idle speed solenoid. This is more common with the new oxygenated fuels, and can only be cured by making the idle speed drop when the key is turned off (that is what the idle speed solenoid is supposed to do), or sometimes simply by reducing the idle speed.
If this is what you have, it is not a charging system problem at all. You can learn to live with the problem by developing the habit of leaving it in a drive gear when you turn off the key until the engine stops, and only then turning it all the way to lock, or you can take it to a tune-up shop and ask them to check the idle speed solenoid and idle speed setting.
If you do NOT hear the commotion under the hood when you are trying to turn it off, post another follow up and I'll make another guess.
Dick
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QUESTION: Thankyou again, but no it doesn't do that. When we put the generator back in after cleaning it up, it started not shuting off unless put in gear.
AnswerOK, we're slowly peeling the onion here!
Just to clarify the difference between alternator and generator, (and just in case someone has put a generator on your car): a generator is a cylindrical, steel device about 6 inches in diameter and about a foot long, black in color and very heavy; an alternator is an aluminum casting which is shaped like a giant donut, about 10 inches in diameter, and about 5 inches from front to back, it is grey in color, and much lighter than a generator.
What you should have on a 1970 Chevelle is an alternator, not a generator (unless the car has been modified) and what is causing your problem is either a failed voltage regulator or a wiring mistake in hooking up the alternator to the regulator (or the regulator to the main harness). Since there are more opportunities for mistakes at the alternator connections, I suggest you carefully review what was done when the alternator was recently replaced.
One of the functions of the voltage regulator is to disconnect the alternator from the car's electrical system when you turn off the key - it appears this is no longer happening after you did the work on the charging system, and that explains why you are getting ignition current even with the key off, (until the RPM drops when you put it in gear).
If this doesn't lead you to the cause, I think you need to take the car to an automotive electrical repair shop and have them sort it out for you.
In the meantime, just to avoid a fire, I think you should be disconnecting one of the battery cables every time you park the car until this is cured - you may lose the whole car to an underhood fire, otherwise.
Dick
