I've had a GM style one wire alternator on my car for a few years. The car is a 70 Charger with stroker big block. Frankly it does not get out much any more. I have a March single serpentine system with the Tuff Stuff alternator. All wiring was new but it does have a stock style ammeter in the cluster that was redone by performance car graphics. I originally had an issue with the charging terminal being loose inside the case making me unable to get a tight connection on the charging wire. All is tight now and I had alternator rebuilt locally as well. Problem is it still does not look to be charging....the ammeter shows a moderate discharge and when tested with a multimeter at the battery it reads only 12.06 and no difference running or off. Originally this would show the charging. Ive read a few horror stories and it looks like I need to bypass the ammeter and just connect the wires together on the same terminal and then just run wire to straight to the battery or the starter relay. Any other ideas here?

first we need to solve the no charge prob then see if you want to bypass the ammeter or not. EDIT I ain't up on 1 wire alts but I think if the main wire to it is hot then if it dont charge then it has to be the alt itself (I would think) but wait for others to chime in that know that system

Seem to remember that the 1 wire units needed to be revved up to excite the internals before they could charge.

I thought I read somewhere they needed at least a 1,000 rpms to charge.

i've found that the copper windings, or lack of, had more of a low rpm charge effect than anything. too larger a pulley will have an effect too.

So...once I plugged my electric fans in, it began to charge. I think I saw somewhere that once it was below 11 volts it would charge...makes no sense to me. Maybe its just smarter than I am and only charges when it sees a draw. Nevertheless I ran it for a good half hour and it continued to show positive amperage.

Now on to a new issue which has been somewhat recurring....The march system came with a billet ps pump and It has always seemed to me like it gets way too hot and boils out the fluid. After 30 minutes of run time in the driveway, I have a good size puddle and the fluid looks mighty dark.

What size pulley is on the the p/s pump?

Looks to be about 5 3/4". I may have a gear box issue. It looks like it is coming from the connection/valve on the top of the gear box. Ironically even with so much fluid on the ground, the pumps full to the cap.

After sitting a couple hours the puddle is larger and now the pump looks empty.

Maybe I missed something, but what part does "march" play in this matter?

I think I had the 2 wires swapped on back of my gage. And it showed a Decharge all the time

The alternator, and power steering pump were all part of the March single serpentine system. A friend of mine also used this system on a small block Cuda. Both of us have had issues with the power steering system boiling fluid out and leaking significantly.

you can buy a pulley that goes on a stock power steering pump for that system.

The power steering pulley looks to small and you might want to add a cooler.

The power steering seemed to get hot on my Billet Specialities Tru-Track also. It has a remote resivor and I added a cooler.

That PS pulley looks like a 1:1 pulley to crankshaft ratio? Should be bigger pulley on the PS to slow it down. I bet they do a smaller pulley because it looks way better than some huge PS pulley. Perhaps a cooler is in order?

our serpentine belt kits are design off the factory parts and made to work like the factory put it there. sure its nice that things are flash but if they don't work, what's the point?

we can make a custom pulley to work with your setup if that's the way you want to go.

DRive pulley is way too big compared to what Ma had on that car 12.06 is not charging period

What does March's Pulley System have to do with your charging problems? Seems wrong to slam them for something they have no control over. If their pulley ratios are off, that's another story.

Why a 1 wire alternator?


I've done extensive research on alternators a while back and everything i have read says for an automobile with factory wiring, never use a 1 wire alternator. if the designers of the wiring system felt that a 1 wire alternator was sufficient, they would have put it in cause auto manufactures want to save every penny they can. 1 wire alternators are best suited for tractors and other farm equipment that don't have the taxing accessories that a car has.

now i know someone's gonna say "I've been using a 1 wire alternator for years with no problems" and that might be ok for them. but I'd loose the 1 wire and put on you car what was suppose to be on there. then see if you have charging issues.