eng turns off

[ntty1]

i have a 1969 charger. when i take off the poss. term.on battery eng turns off. could it be the alt. or volt reg. and how do i test both reg @ alt.

[Ghoste]

If it shuts off when you remove the positive terminal than everything is perfectly normal.

[ntty1]

should eng keep running after removing poss term

[Ghoste]

No.

[Nacho-RT74]

ah ?... IT SHOULD... Ghoste I have to be disagree... depending on charging output from alt, engine should keep running.

Is not safe to the system, but should do

[Ghoste]

I must not be putting out enough then because mine quits if the battery isn't in the circuit.

[FLG]

With a properly charging alternator it should keep the car running 

Whever anyone had a problem with a dead battery the way i would  check if the alt is charging if i didnt have a multimeter handy was just disconnect the battery. Car shuts off then there is a charging problem. Granted it was only a rudementary test just to see, but its always worked.

[Nacho-RT74]

yes is a rudimentary system and unsafe to the electrical system because regulator is loosing an stable power source, but if you have to do it, then is the way to be sure AT ALL.

if you have ammeter in center at idle ( or on charge side ), engine should keep running because alt is feeding the car or engine demand. If you have discharge reading, then will shut off because on that moment is the batt what is feeding all or mostly/partially the power demand because alt insuficiency

[Ghoste]

As I told Nacho in a pm, mine definitely goes to discharge at idle.  But it has always done that in the ten years I`ve owned it  .  I can`t recall any old Mopar I`ve had that didn`t do that but...

[Nacho-RT74]

yeap, thats the main problem on Mopars,,, the constant discharge makes when rev up, alt overloads to get recovered charged the battery. That is what melts and burns everything. you save that and you will be safe even with stock wiring! and that includes ammeter safe.

the trick is, get made the charging setup to keep ammeter in center more as posible

[FLG]

Yep its really the fact that the alts simply dont charge much at idle, especially with accessories on. So when you start moving THEN it starts charging and needs to put alot of amperage on those wires to recover what was from the battery at idle. Also a good battery is key. I run a yellow top optima.

[Ghoste]

So is a bigger alternator the solution?

EDIT: Nacho provided the solution a while back in this thread. 

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,33574.0.html

[ntty1]

thank u for info

[Ghoste]

Thank you for bringing it up,  I've already told Nacho that fixing this is going to be my winter project.  Mine doesn't run without the battery and I've always thought that was normal Mopar stuff (I guess it is sort of, but I wasn't aware that it was bad and that it didn't need to be that way).

[firefighter3931]

Here's my 

Older style Mopar alternators don't charge much below 1000 rpm so if you're running lots of accessories the ammeter will show a discharge if engine speed is below this threshold. This is why i prefer to idle my engines high...that, and the splash oil lubrication to the cam & lifters is another reason.

If the alternator is working properly the engine will still run with the battery disconnected once the engine has been started.


Ron

[Nacho-RT74]

Also a good battery is key.

just a note: good battery doesn't mean  A HIGH RESERVE AMPERAGE battery. Bigger batt you have, more time to charge on car, so more stress on charging system untill batt gets full charge so we have two scenarios:

-High amp batt ( more than 500/600 amps ) will match perfectly with a balanced charging system, using a decent/high output alternator able to charge/feed at iddle and with basic electric options working ( lights, radio and stuff like that ). But if accidentally you get damaged alt and use the reserve power on batt NEVER charge the batt on car, use a home charger UNLESS you have parallel wires to save plugs and wires and being carefull about RPMs to save ammeter... or if you jump from alt directly to batt with a heavy wire.

-Average batts used on our cars ( 400/600 amps ) will work perfect with a nice charging alt output or high output alternator since charge back the batt in case of an accidentally discharge will be in some minutes being that the batt will get full QUICKLY, so not enough stress on system able to damage...

in both scenarios batt will or should never be drained out because a propper alternator will keep feeding the car without need to use the batt, just on starting and/or ocasionall moments, like High speed blower.

I'm not saying a HIGH AMPERES BATT is a non go, because in fact I'm using a 900 amps batt on my car... the deal is be concious about what you have and what you are able to use.

[Ghoste]

I do have a high amp battery.  I guess that is just the old Canadian winter thinking that we always need the highest rated battery we can fit to get the cold cranking power.  That said, beyond the battery being too high, my alt may be too low because it disacharges at idle even with no accessories on.  I run an MSD but it discharged even back when it had points and a stock coil years ago.

[Nacho-RT74]

a high amp battery with stock alt ( poor charge power ) is the worst setup you can have because is the setup WILL TAKE MORE TIME TO CHARGE back the batt of all and power will be going throught ammeter and two bulkhead terminals ( batt and alt ) that tipically get burn spots... so LOOOOT OF STRESS on charging system.

remember the main splice is between alt and ammeter, so if you keep consumption on that side, ammeter is safe and just one terminal will be stressed out ( stuff taht you save with parallel wires ). High amp batt and poor alt, makes all power demand is going through amm coming from batt to feed the splice and ammeter is being also stressed with the bat terminals too

[MoparSam]

Ya also have to be careful in removing either of the cables while running, 'cause I burnt up a new voltage reg and 4 headlights on my brother's '79 D-100 when cleaning the terminals a few years ago.