The saga that is my Diplomat

[brotherGood]

Anyone who has frequented dippy.org, knows the saga that is my Diplomat. Some of the darndest things, happen to this car.

Well, Saturday, I fired the car up and got it out of the garage. I was going to take it around the block, but then Dad called and said he was gonna pick me up for lunch..hey, free lunch is free lunch. So, I shut the car off, and for no apparent reason just happened to look at the temp gauge. When I focused on it, cause I saw it looked funny, I notice the needle disappeared. Luckily, I've got a spare factory cluster, and an aftermarket gauge.

Anyone else have weird stuff happen to their cars?

 

[80 Lebaron Coupe]

I have followed the saga of your car,
I think your AHB Dip may be Christines brother Charlie.

 

[brotherGood]

If I didn't think it was cursed before, that moment I pull up from work and see flames coming out of the carb..that did it for me.

 

[Jack Meoff]

I'm surprised it's not a Plymouth.
Both mine were Pandora's Plymouth when I got them.

 

[brotherGood]

It's a toss up between the car and truck as to which is the d@#& Dodge. Although,a certain movie mopar police car was the "$#!+ box Dodge"..May keep that for my police car..Lol

 

[NoCar340]

Well, Saturday, I fired the car up and got it out of the garage. I was going to take it around the block, but then Dad called and said he was gonna pick me up for lunch..hey, free lunch is free lunch. So, I shut the car off, and for no apparent reason just happened to look at the temp gauge. When I focused on it, cause I saw it looked funny, I notice the needle disappeared.

You have once again proven the old adage, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." :icon_biggrin:

However, if you would like to use a replacement factory gauge, I have a few lying around that work perfectly. Yours for the asking, and the cost of shipping (like $5 Priority Mail).

 

[brotherGood]

Thanks, I've got one spare factory piece here though. And if it happens again, I'll just move forward with my aftermarket gauge swap.

 

[brotherGood]

Here's my point, once again. I went to fix the gauges this evening. Come to find out, there are types with indicator lights, and types without. So, now, using my spare..I have a temp gauge with an indicator light (Im fancy, huh?). While running the car, letting it warm up to see if the gauge was working, I noticed my ammeter fluctuating when I turned lights on. Got out the multimeter, and come to find out "I think" its overcharging. Not even sure that's a possibility, but its charging exactly 15. I think its due to the extra ground wire we added at the alternator. If that's the case, then so be it.

 

[NoCar340]

I would suggest you look into wiring issues with the lights and your ground contact for the voltage regulator case or the regulator itself. If it's the big honkin' 100A alternator, though, you may have internal issues but generally speaking alternators will only output what they're told.

 

[brotherGood]

It's got that extra ground wire on the alternator that it shouldn't have, so I'm gonna take that off and hook the old power wire back up and try it again. While trying to fix the first problem, I tried wiring direct thinking it was a fuseable link. So I'm gonna return it back to factory wiring and it should be ok.

I went and got gas in it yesterday, and noticed it's got a pretty good leak of some sort..don't know what it is, or where it's coming from, but it's there. I'm really getting tired of having to fix stuff to drive it. I can't wait until I can fix stuff to make it better..lol

 

[brotherGood]

Switched back to the factory wiring, and checked it after I got home..it's running 14.8 now at the battery.

 

[NoCar340]

The extra ground wire should not cause any problems as long as it's just a case ground. In fact, it's a good idea. There's no such thing as "too much ground" in an automotive electrical system; in fact it's the cause of more gremlins than every other fault combined. The alternator I'm using on my Imperial (135A Nippondenso) has a specific "extra" ground stud on it, and I intend to use it.

 

[brotherGood]

It went from the outside of the alt to the core support. I had heard that wasn't a great idea going there. 8 never had an additional ground before..So it's new to me

 

[brotherGood]

That's how I HAD it. I came home and put it back to the factory setup though, and it dropped down to 14.8. For kicks and giggles, I may switch VR's with the old one, and see if that does anything. Will 14.8 hurt anything?

 

[NoCar340]

Nope. It's a little high, but nothing over which you should lose sleep. You may find the weakling in your herd of light bulbs, but that's about it.

The best place to ground the extra wire is right back to the engine, usually under the alternator pivot bolt or a bolt in an open hole. If you're going to run it to the core support, make sure it's a solid ground, and that the body grounds to the engine are equally good.

 

[brotherGood]

Nope. It's a little high, but nothing over which you should lose sleep. You may find the weakling in your herd of light bulbs, but that's about it.

Waddya mean? Never really messed with the lights, but we did have an issue before of the old ground cables shorting the car out.

 

[80 Lebaron Coupe]

The extra ground wire should not cause any problems as long as it's just a case ground. In fact, it's a good idea. There's no such thing as "too much ground" in an automotive electrical system; in fact it's the cause of more gremlins than every other fault combined. The alternator I'm using on my Imperial (135A Nippondenso) has a specific "extra" ground stud on it, and I intend to use it.

X2

I upgraded the 80 to a 120 Amp Denso

mp Denso

 

[brotherGood]

I would like to run a denso one of these days, but until I'm to the point where that's on the table..Im not gonna worry about it. I've got 2 good working alternators in the garage, so I'd might as well use those while I've got em. If I come across one and its a good deal, I'll jump on it and go from there. But, no sense putting one on if the entire rest of the charging system isn't right.

The general conclusion, both here and other places, is 14.8 is acceptable. Not too high, and so Im not going to worry about it. I'll periodically keep checking it though, and see if I cant add any more grounds (I think I've only got 2).

 

[80 Lebaron Coupe]

Yeah use up those other alts first while your working out the bugs.
A Denso is one of those upgrades to do after everything else is running smooth.

 

[NoCar340]

Waddya mean? Never really messed with the lights, but we did have an issue before of the old ground cables shorting the car out.

Some of your older light bulbs' filaments might not like that high of voltage, that's all. The voltage is within design specification for virtually all automotive bulbs, but filaments weaken over time and the extra wattage might spell the end for your original, date-coded dome lamp bulb. :icon_biggrin: