An AFB on a 73 anything is not stock, so who knows what you actually have for a choke setup, because a 73 4bbl intake isn't compatible with an AFB nor is it's choke setup.


Sounds to me like somone's been monkeying around under the hood.

And bring the rpms above 1200 rpm , the original mopar alts don't put out full voltage at idle.

Interesting information. Yes the previous owner put the afb on. i believe the intake was changed too. I know the mechanic who was working on the choke recently, I'll try and ask him.

Where would I put the meter probes to measure directly off the alternator?

black to ground (alternator case) red to the battery out terminal ( thickest wire on the back of the alternator).

Alternator is connected to the battery, what you see at the alt is at the battery, unless you have a broken wire .

This car should be parked in favor of a new challenger with a warranty. LOL

Ok, problem solved, I think. I went and got the battery charged, now it fires right up without any hesitation. I think what happened was that I recently had a car alarm installed. I noticed the car had the doors and trunk open when I came to pick it up, it had probably been sitting like that for a couple of hours. So the dome light trunk liigh and buzzer must have drained the battery below where the alternator could top it off. How much power do the bulbs draw? Can you get low energy ones?

With the freshly charged battery, your ignition system now gets the proper amount of voltage to create sparks with and the starter probably spins the motor over a little quicker.

It's funny to see how some folks seem to "step over" the easiest tests to do and actually try to find a problem.

Like mentioned earlier, check the voltage with a running engine and high idle.
If the voltage is not atleast above 13v, your charging system is not working properly and in need of some attention.

There are other checks to do, but you need to know first if the charging system is up to the task.

So what you are saying is that this was a one time occurrence and the shop that did the install is about 500 ft from your house and that drive wasn't enough to top off the battery?

Considering how vague the question was, and the issues that people have here in the states with piss poor gas quality especially in commiefornia, what do you expect.

I

It was just a guess, I'm certainly no car expert as you can probably tell the shop was 10 miles from my home. But I don't know for sure if the problem is gone. I'll keep an eye on it over the next few days and then look into some of the other things people have suggested. Most things are old on this car so it may very well be some other problem.

If your charging system isn't working correctly.. (which if the voltage was at 12, it is not) just watch you don't get stuck some where when the freshly charged battery slowly gets dragged down and end up with not enough power to start the car..

The old way to check was to start the car, and pull the battery terminal off and the car should keep running.. (I wouldn't do this with modern electronics of course but it was an old school simple way to check if you didn't have test equipment around)

You should have an amp gauge. it'll show D ALT C. Where's the needle when ur driving? Are the headlights brighter when driving? Did you even check the volts @ high idle (1000rpm) @ the alternator?

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/01/how-to-test-a-car-alternator/

I already tried pulling the negative terminal off the battery with the car running and it kept running. How do alternators go bad? Do they just stop working or do they deteriorate to point where they can just keep the car running but charges very poorly? I wouldn't be opposed to just buying a new one, they don't seem that expensive.

Measurement taken at alternator 14.2v-14.4v idle, 14.6v reved up to what i think was around 1200, don't have rpm gauge.
Ameter is usually somewhere around slightly right of middle just touching the thick middle line. Often when i first start it's a bit to the right of that.

Then ur good on the Alt/voltage regulator.

So if I wanted better starting, would i look into getting better spark?

Whats the base timing at?

Sorry i don't know. My automotive skills are beginner level, but I would like to learn.