So for the last 5-6 years my 78 powerwagon has had a strange electrical glitch. If I have my headlights on, heater fan on, and hit the brakes or turn signals it would kill the radio, and Id loose radio until I turned one ting off. I had always thought it was a radio feed issue and never really worried about it, well it has gotten worse and sometimes I would loose all power and it wouldn't crank over, If I tapped the brakes it would fire up. I was thinking a ground or something. Well my shop was empty for a change and I thought I need fix ol greenie.

First off I checked all my grounds, all seemed ok, I did need to replace the battery cause it got froze this winter. So I noticed that it seemed like a nw truck after that. So I checked the charging system. Mind you THis is a work truck I onlynuse if needed. Well damn its only charging at 12.8ish NOT GOOD right.

SO I start tracing wires, alternator seems fine, as its got 15ish at the alternator. So I contacted a buddy who is a lil more involved with the trucks than me. He told me to check amp gauge. I did that, they are tight, but he said chec connections, so I did. They didn't look horrible but I cleaned them anyways. I then also found a shady looking repair at the 2 wires that come off the starter relay. Factory fuseable link was blown from years ago and My Dad had repaired it, but the repair was full of corrosion, I cut it all out, soldered and heat shrinked the connection, and then I checked it again.

WELL!!! Its charging at 14.2 no load, and 13.8-14 under full load. Truck runs better, radio is golden, lights are brighter, truck starts better, just all around better!!!


Now I actually want to drive it more! No issues of it dying on me now.

SO now Im looking for BIG BLOCK parts for Ol Greenie!!

Always makes you feel good when you finally find the problem.

Good Job!!

Woo Hoo!

My old 79 PW had all kinds of gremlins when I first got it running (even though it only had 30,000 original miles on it, still wearing the factory Good Year Tracker AT's even!). As a matter of course, I installed new parts such as ignition, parts, voltage regulator, rebuilt the carb, etc.

During a particularly difficult running spree, I checked the voltage at idle and it was 17 volts! GADS! I was told (on here) to only use a real Mopar voltage regulator, not any aftermarket ones. Bought one, popped it in, a nice 13.7 at idle, and no more gremlins! Drove her another 100,000 miles until the frame rusted in half, but she kept right on running!