1) I do not have spacers. If I do in fact need those, where do I get them?
2) I thought about star lock washers, but since I have a flat washer between the bolt head and the star washer, would it even help?
3) I ended up checking my charging system, and it is only providing 12.48V at idle and 12.98V while revving up. That is way too low.
Digging into the charging system:
So I looked into my manual to check which part of my charging is not doing well. Measuring between my stator plugs and ground are both infinite ohms, not connected in any way. Measuring the ohms between thee two stator plugs is .5 ohms, which does seem ever so slightly high, but something I'm willing to live with. Measuring the voltage between the stator plugs are around 29VAC, which seems correct.
Step 2. To check the regulator unplug it from the stator. Take a test light and clip it to the negative terminal of the battery and then touch first one pin and then the other on the plug that goes to the regulator. If you get even the slightest amount of light from the test light the regulator is toast.
To do this with a meter: black lead to battery ground, red lead to each pin on the plug, start with the voltage scale higher than 12vdc and move voltage scale down in steps for each pin. Any voltage is a bad regulator.
Lastly, according to the tech sticky above, I checked the voltage between the regulator plugs and its between .5V - 1V. That appears to wrong and my regulator might be bad. My question is, would this be causing my loosening cables?
It looks like you have washers (?) of different sizes, so that could be a source of your problem. It doesn't look like you need spacers from what I can see, but make sure all the washers and ring connectors have the same inside diameter, not off to one side or another. Yours look a bit shifty to me.
Is that copper looking one from the starter? It looks off center of the bolt.
Or is it the silver one just right of the wire with the yellow crimp on?
You should only need/have two wires, one big, and one small. More, and you're probably asking for loose connections. If you have an accessory wire, move it to the terminal block or circuit breaker for power.
John
Last edited by John Harper; 08-29-2019 at 08:34 PM.
It looks like you have washers (?) of different sizes, so that could be a source of your problem. It doesn't look like you need spacers from what I can see, but make sure all the washers and ring connectors have the same inside diameter, not off to one side or another. Yours look a bit shifty to me.
Is that copper looking one from the starter? It looks off center of the bolt.
Or is it the silver one just right of the wire with the yellow crimp on?
You should only need/have two wires, one big, and one small. More, and you're probably asking for loose connections. If you have an accessory wire, move it to the terminal block or circuit breaker for power.
John
I only have 2 wires, the big copper looking one and the small one with the yellow ring terminal. The other 2 items are my split lock-washer and the flat washer that cannot come off the battery bolt. You are correct though, the copper one (going to my starter) has a larger diameter than the battery bolt. I unhooked everything to look at the diameter and realized this is happening to the terminal...
So when I thought I tightened it the other day, I was just squeezing the terminal metal through the "hole" created by the difference in diameter between the terminal bolt and copper ring. Do you agree that's what's happening?
What should I do to fix this? I obviously need a smaller diameter ring terminal, but what do I do about the battery terminal?
1. There should have been a washer with a hole the same size as the bolt between the battery terminal and the wire eyelet.
Once the lead pulled through the bolt bottomed out on the lead instead of the ring terminal.
For reference this the the difference of diameter. Once places are open tomorrow, I'll get myself a new ring terminal.
Should I just pound that lead back in the terminal?
No, use a washer on the bolt and a pair of channel locks (pump pliers) to squeeze the threaded nut that's in the lead back in.
Don't replace the ring, get the proper washer.
Repair the lug, put the AUX, wire, a Star washer with a small hole then the large ring and another star or regular washer with a small hole.
Okay thanks for all the info, will do this tonight after work. I thought to get the most contact, I'd want the Cooper terminal touching the terminal itself...
Why should I put a star in between the aux and the Cooper? Doesn't a star just prevent turning?
Just a side note. Is that yellow eyelet crimp connector on the red wire a tight connection? That alone has nothing to do with your issue but looks hinky. Sometimes unavoidable, but I wont use them. Solder and shrink tube is your friend in critical areas. Just an observation / question?
08-29-2019, 07:58 PM
