55 Crown Victoria generator light coming on

[delco1946]

Hi All,

I thought i'd tap into the collective conscious before jumping into my problem un-aided. Twice now, non consecutively, I have parked and turned off my car and the generator light came on. Per the manual, this means the battery is draining without being supplied current.

1st time this happened, I flicked all my switches to see if they were somehow causing a poor/incorrect contact (and its easy!). Flicking the drivers side power window switch did the trick. Whew.

Second time, Murphy's law was with me. Its 11pm, i'm exhausted and cranky, and i flick all my switches. No change. I even knock on the dash, start the car etc.no change. I drive it for a couple blocks, and return with tools in tow to disconnect the battery. Light no longer comes on this time before resorting to disconnecting the battery.

I'm wondering has anyone experienced this? where do i start? this cant be a direct short since that would cause an electrical fire/smoke, right? I did notice when i turned off the car, the gen light flickers as the motor dies for that split second when the motor is still turning over but not generating current. Is this normal? I've got power everything so i'm hoping to narrow it down, or perhaps have some sort of prioritized list of probable suspects. I also have an electric clock so i'm loathe to simply disconnect the battery every time i wanna drive (or at least be prepared to) as the temporary fix.

Also, to be clear, the light never comes on when the car is running, only when off (twice now) so that removes the generator itself as a suspect, right?

Thanks! -Christopher

[Alaska Jim]

I would suspect the voltage regulator is sticking, but I could be wrong.

[54vicky]

I agree with jim.next time it happens pop the hood and you may find the generator trying to turn fan belt.happened a few times to me.the one set of points in regulator stick off the top of my head I do not remember which of the 3.needless to say change regulator

[darrell]

hitting the regulator with something will usually do it.

[delco1946]

Awesome thank you! I'll take a look at it (and whack it next time it happens) and see if cleaning it etc might help it.

[dmsfrr]

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Fold over a strip of fine sandpaper so there's abrasive on both sides. Drag it back and forth between each pair of voltage regulator contacts while squeezing them together slightly. This will smooth any rough spots that may be causing them to arc and/or stick to each other.
Disconnecting a battery cable first wouldn't be a bad idea.
.

[Daves55Sedan]

dmsfrr has a good point, but I don't think it is the outer contacts in the regulator that are a fault here. There is a set of contacts just above the coils under the bar too. In order to access them with the folded over sandapaper, it may be necessary to remove the regulator from the car. I suggest doing both sets of contacts for good measure.

[54vicky]

if you decide to sandpaper use a very fine sand paper (actually emory cloth)as sand paper will leave a grit behind to say nothing of the craters if too course.if you have access to an old school points file it will do the job.cleaning will only allow you to extend its life for a while.try to find a company that deals in old new stock parts as the off shore junk is just that.just match the new to your old as there were different ratings. they came in 35 amp etc it will be marked on cover

[dmsfrr]

You didn't mention if the car has its original 6 volt positive ground system or if it's been converted to 12 volt.

If / when you go shopping for a replacement voltage regulator be aware some suppliers are confused about which year is which voltage and may accidentally try to sell you the wrong one. '56 was the first year for 12 volt negative ground.

[rotorwrench]

Depending on the type of regulator (old original or new reproduction), I am very careful about cleaning the points and especially the voltage regulator pole and the current limiter pole. Many times it's just the cut out relay that is sticking. This is the pole that the battery wire is connected to.

The generator warning light connects to the ignition switch so that it will turn on when you switch the ignition on. As soon as you start the engine, the light will go out when the cut out relay in the VR brings the generator on line. As soon as the ignition switch is turned off, the cut out should open and turn the generator light off. If it stays on then the cut out is likely stuck in the on position and it's feeding back power through the generator. The generator light also connects with the armature terminal on the VR so that is where the feed back could come from.

Ignition switches can get a build up of crud inside due to normal wear and tear. The metallic crud can short terminals inside some times but it would likely be an intermittent thing. Working the switch around should get it to go off if it's intermittent.

[delco1946]

Thanks for all the tips y'all. My mechanic unfortunately has my manual, as pictures would have been very helpful, but I gently sanded the contacts with 800 grit sandpaper. Keep in mind this was also during Oregon's forest fires, where you can barely breathe outside so I tried to be fast. Just wanted to make sure my car would function fine as my getaway car if I had to evacuate (my area is in the clear now thankfully although still can't go outside really).

I didn't quite understand some people's comment about a second sets of contacts underneath. I dismounted the unit, nothing under it. The bottom pole's contact was very hard to gap enough to get sandpaper in between. Sound's like this is the cut-out pole. Is that normal? too tight?

I also sprayed contact/electrical cleaner into the ignition switch to clean it and then spayed graphite lock spray (I searched for recommended lubes but wasn't really coming up with anything). Anyway so far so good!

[54vicky]

nice to see the problem is temporarily fixed it I would still look to replace it with a quality one.I am with you on the second set underneath I only played with the 3 under cover but that was in sixty plus years.

[delco1946]

I should clarify - i don't have a "second set" so i don't know what this refers to. If someone could clarify that would be great!

[Daves55Sedan]

Originally Posted by delco1946

I should clarify - i don't have a "second set" so i don't know what this refers to. If someone could clarify that would be great!

Underneath the arms (at the top) that have the contacts on the ends is a round head that holds the copper coil down. That head is magnetized to pull the top contacts closed, but if the head below becomes rusty, they won't operate the contacts. I always take a strip of fine sandpaper, fold it over and push it back and forth in there to clean the rust out, then it works again. You need to manually push the top arm down over the sandpaper in order to clean the top of the head and underside of the arm.
The head and arm are supposed to be plated with zinc, but on the newer regulators, that plating isn't very good, so they get rusty.
I've seen a few aftermarket regulators that have 2 screws holding each arm to the housing, so it is easy to take them off, inspect the head and bottom of arms and clean them if necessary using a wire wheel. Then you can brush on a little acid etch on the bare metal and that will keep them from rusting for a while. The original Ford regulators had the arms riveted onto the housing, but you can drill out the rivets and replace with machine screws and nuts.

[delco1946]

I lightly sanded my contacts like previously recommended, and I guess it was a band aid fix. I ordered a new voltage regular from Dennis Carpenter, so hopefully it’s decent quality.

Anyway, my question is about installation. The small paper with it says to polarized the regulator after installation, before using. I’m surprised that this is needed since I’m not disconnecting the generator, and I disconnected the regulator in the past to clean and never polarized it, and I never had issues. Just curious is this necessary? Should I do this in the future every time I disconnect the regulator from the charging system?

[rotorwrench]

It's just to insure good and proper residual magnetic gauss in the field pole shoes. The residual magnetism diminishes over time and lack of use. It's recommended to momentarily flash the field any time a component is replaced but the generator field is all that is affected. Proper polarity and good residual magnetism is important to allow the generator to come on line and generate a good current.

If it works without polarizing then no problem. If it doesn't come on line then it should be re-polarized.