1962 will not charge battery

[Rick Hendel]

MY 1962 WILL NOT HOLD A BATTERY CHARGE. I PUT A VOLTAGE METER ON THE GENERATOR AND IT READ 13 TO 13.8 VOLTS. THEN I CHECKED AT THE BATTERY AND ONLY READ 11.3 TO 12.4 VOLTS AFTER REVING THE MOTOR. I SUSPECT A BAD VOLTAGE REGULATOR. ANY IDAES OR DO YOU BELIEVE IT'S THE GENERATOR OR VOLTAGE REGULATOR OR SOME THING ELSE. THANKS

[Dennis C.]

Re: 1962 will not charge battery

My knee jerk reaction is to trash the battery, but suspect those with superior knowledge will check in... Dennis

[William C.]

Re: 1962 will not charge battery

Is the battery a tar top? If so, have you checked the cells with a hydrometer?

[Jack H.]

You can guess or test....

Just about any compentent auto electric shop can wheel up their charging system diagnostic machine. This is 'spliced' into the car's wiring allowing them to dynamically exercise: (1) generator, (2) voltage regulator, and (3) battery to see/review who's doing what under what condition(s).

Tests take about 15-minutes and you wind up knowing EXACTLY what's up. If it's the fault of the v-reg and yours is a correct number/correctly dated orignal, MOST can be either fixed on the spot (remove cover, clean contacts, and re-adjust gap) or sent to a specialist, like John Pirkle, for a full bore factory concours restoration. Same goes for the generator...

At the 'quickie' shops (NAPA, Pep Boys, Etc.), they have in-store exercise machines PRIMARILY for alternator based, 12V systems. The objective is a free test service designed to give you 'go/no-go' info on components you hand carry in (battery, voltage regulator, alternator). If something doesn't work as it should and there's an easy fix (re-adjust v-reg to compensate for normal point contact wear), they'll NEVER tell you because they want to SELL you....