Iv been dealing with the same problem for about 7-8 months now and im really getting tired of it. The alternator wont charge the battery, the connections are clean and the alt light no longer comes on even though the bulb is good. Iv been staring at the charging system wiring diagram for hours and i understand how it works i just dont know how to fix it. The alternator is good and iv had to have the battery charged twice in the past week. I dont have the money to send to the shop but i will trade manual labor if someone would come out here and help me out.
You have a break in the circuit...If the bulb wont light the alt wont charge.Time to chase the wire down and find the break...
There are a some folks in the GA. area arnd Macon, Atlanta and other places. I don't know how close u maybe to them but they meet occassionally at a resturant named, Baby Jane's - nr Atlanta,"if memory serves me", who are vry sharp on these cars. U might try to hookup w/ them and see if they can get u going. I'd bet they can. Check w/ 71Gold u might be able to get info on when they will have nx meeting. I believe as Mavman72 stated; u have a wiring problem. Did u chk the wiring w/ a VOM/multimeter to see if u have continuity "no breaks"?
Get a volt Ohm meter. Theres some cheap anolog ones for 15 bucks. You can get a nice Digital for around 50.00. Then check the voltages at each wire, then check contact at the beginning of each wire. that should tell you if a wire is broken.
Do you have a test light or electrical test meter? The test light looks like a ahl with a wire coming out of the handle with a aligator clip on the end so you can clip it to a ground source. The handle lights up when you make contact with the pointed end and a power source. The electrical tester will have a omes setting which will allow you to test a wire for curent flow or not. It makes it easyier to find a wire that is broken so you can then replace or repair it. I hope this helps in some way.
I don't know how u feel abt removing all that wiring harness and replace it w/ a 3G-1wire and forget abt finding a problem in the harness. If ur finances allow, u can get a new 115amp for a $115.00 + shipping and have plenty of reserve capacity for just abt anything u will add later that consumes pwr. U shud still get a multimeter for future problems that may arise. U cud still test the old harness and get familiar w/ it's operation. In the meantime u will be able to use the car. I prefer a meter and a test light, they both have advantages, depending on what ur doing. I replaced my altenator abt 2yrs ago w/ one of these units and removed all the harness and associated wiring. One wire frm the alt to the starter side of solenoid. http://www.qualitypowerauto.com/
i have a muti meter and tested the exciter wire for resistance at the plug that goes on the alternator and the plug into the voltage regulator and it tested no resistance. i also pulled the gauge cluster and tested the the light green w/red stripe wires at the plug that goes into the gauge cluster and where it goes into the voltage regulator and it tested no resistance too. where does the other light green w/red stripe wire that is in the gauge cluster plug go to? i also tested all the wires going into the voltage regulator and all the wires in the alternator wiring harness and they all tested good. if the voltage regulator was bad would it prevent the alternator from charging the battery?
This may help! Use the one marked alternator. I believe the " I " terminal on the regulator plug will turn on the " alt " light on the dash if you have the key on and ground the " I " terminal. Make sure to unplug the regulator to do this and I'd use a test light to do the grounding! That way you won't fry anything! The test light should be dim and the indicator on the cluster should be dim too.
