Amp gauge question
Drove 60' Vette today for 1.5 hrs. then parked for 4 hours. Starts right up and after 10 minute drive the car will not turn over, electrical system dead. After using jump box car restarts and amp gauge is +15 for the next 45 minutes before slowly returning to 0. Car now turns over slowly, but restarts displaying +30 amps. Where do I start, battery, voltage regulator, generator or starter?
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Re: Amp gauge question
Do some basic troubleshooting. Start with the simple stuff.
Do you know how to do a voltage drop test? (YouTube).
1. Check connections, at the battery at the starter at the engine block. Physically pull them off, clean, and reassemble/reseal.
2. Grounds are very important especially 60 year old grounds
3. 60 year old battery cables probably need replacing. At minimum Ohm tested.
4. Load test the battery.
5. What is the voltage at the battery while the engine is running? A healthy system should be +14 VDC above idle.
6. Bench test the starter. Its out now so disassemble inspect clean re-grease.
Do you have a good alternator/starter rebuild shop close by? Yes...take the starter, alternator/generator voltage regulator and battery to that shop and toss it on the bench and have all tested.
If you have them rebuild these assemblies make sure you imply to use the same cases if they are numbers matching. If finish is important find a known restorer in Drive Line or try it yourself if your into that.
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