521 constantly blowing flasher, reverse and meter fuse

[banzai510(hainz)]

amazon has the Innova 3721 battery alternator monitor buy 2  why work and don't drain the battery.

Matter of fack eveyody should have on if they don't run a volt meter. as it has L E D s and youll sell fater if bad or not

 

I drove 10miles home just fine when it went out

[d.p]

Ordered a remanufactured alt from pep boys, should be here next week.  Probably will have mine checked next week for shits and gigs.  

[banzai510(hainz)]

Well you can have them ck it and see what happens. But I it might ck good for them for they have a 25amp fuse in there system

[datzenmike]

I can't remove it as the mounting screws are seized.  hit them with PB and will see if it helps.   How can I test voltage regulator to alternator connection?  

 

I had a ground from negative terminal to the body but it made no difference so I took it off to test the way it was.

 

This is what I am working with:

 

 

 

 

You MUST have a good solid ground connection from the battery to the body AND most importantly, to the voltage regulator. Use vice grips on those screws to loosen, then clean and tighten them. Get a ground strap from block to the body or the negative terminal to the volt regulator.

[banzai510(hainz)]

Buy the INNOVA. Im telling Smalls!!!!!!!!!!!!

[d.p]

Strap from negative battery terminal to body will suffice? If so I can do that. Alt has a ground to the voltage reg mounting screw. There are two grounds there but not sure where the other one is going.

 

I cannot get those volt screws loose and the last thing I want to do is strip them.

[datzenmike]

Strap to body is fine. Alternator may not ground very well through the mounting bolts to the block so more grounds are better.

 

Screws won't break... Vice grips.

[d.p]

Strap to body is fine. Alternator may not ground very well through the mounting bolts to the block so more grounds are better.

 

Screws won't break... Vice grips.

How you even get a vice grip on them? I would have to do it from the top of the screw. No way I am getting to it from the side.

[d.p]

Could weak ground on the alt cause this?  Alt ground wire has seen better days.  

 

If so can I ground the alt directly to the body?  

 

[datzenmike]

Sure but the voltage regulator is the easiest and how the factory did it.

[d.p]

Sure but the voltage regulator is the easiest and how the factory did it.

 

 

Well the screw on the voltage reg is loose (where the alt grounds) and I cannot tighten or loosen it.   Just trying to get a temporary fix for now other than driving around with that fuse blown.  

[d.p]

Reading about alternators and DanielC posted this elsewhere:

 

"On my 521, the headlights have a separate ground wire to the voltage regulator mount. But the other smaller lights, and accessories use the body, and frame for a ground. If the ground connection from the alternator to the external regulator goes bad, the electrical system will try to ground through the throttle linkage. This will cause problems. Wacky, hard to diagnose problems. Check your grounds."

 

Could this explain why going WOT causes the ALT to push 16V and the fuse to blow? 

[datzenmike]

No. Regulator tell alternator what to do. Alternator can obviously produce 16v so the regulator needs to tell it to drop down to 14+

 

That is either not grounded or regulator.

[d.p]

ok so ground or VR then?  Anyone got a recommendation for a VR? 

 

Also Hainz having same problem as me and his problem was his alt.  I guess I just need to change alternator, or VR or both and pray.  

[wayno]

This is why I went to an internally regulated alternator, the stock system doesn't seem to like me, and it doesn't seem to like you either.

My issue was the ignition light was always on even though it was charging properly, but when it did quit charging properly, I didn't know because the light was always on all the time, but as I mostly drive during the day it didn't annoy me that much.

You can start throwing money at it, I took my alternators in and they said they were good, I buy a regulator and it didn't fix anything, it actually smoked the last regulator and they were not happy with me at the parts store, so I finally gave up and used a 1980 720 alternator and made my own mount, later I found out that the Z22 mount is made to mount the larger alternator lower, so now I use them.

Oh an I also make my own wiring now when I use the modern alternator, the only stock wire I use is the wire that goes to the dash light.

[d.p]

Yah been reading a lot about IR alts, subaru, saturn, etc..Not sure I want to go that route yet.  

 

Right now I got to throw money at the alt or VR, not sure what else it could be so will start with those two.  

 

For future reference got a link to a 720 alt and the z22 mount?

[flatcat19]

Switching to IR alt was super easy. Doing so actually fixed a few weird gremlins I had on my 521.

 

 

I used an alt from a 79 620. Still used the 521 mount, but modified.

Switching to a higher amp KA alt soon.

[datzenmike]

You can also swap to the other side where there's lots of room. Higher output alternators are larger diameter and don't fit well on the right. My '72 broke it's mount and I had it swapped to below the distributor.

[DanielC]

If you replace the alternator with an internally regulated one, you still have to leave the ground wire from the alternator from the regulator mount (cab sheet metal) in place, and if the alternator is a significantly higher output one, you need a larger wire for this connection.  The positive output from the alternator also needs a bigger wire.

 

Since you have loosened the regulator mounting bolt, I would remove it, the ground wires, and the regulator, and clean the contact surfaces on the inner fender, the voltage regulator mounting ears, and both sides of the lugs on the grounding wires.   Clean the bolt as well, or replace it.  1/4-28 is the thread used on the bolts.

[d.p]

I loosened the ground bolt but wasn't able to back it all the way out, about halfway it seized up so I just tightened it back down.   I couldn't break the other one loose at all so I just stopped fucking with it last night. 

 

At this point I can try and remove those bolts but then I don't have another VR to replace it with so all I would be doing would be cleaning the contacts and putting new bolts in.  I figure I might as well just wait until I get a new VR so I can swap it at the same time in the hopes it fixes this problem.  

[datzenmike]

Try to do the easy cheap things first and eliminate them as the cause. Clean and tighten the ground contact points.  Keep it simple and hope for the best. With luck this is the problem. If not, you move on to expensive replacement of the regulator. (if it's a bad ground, swapping the regulator isn't going to fix this)

[DanielC]

You can get a small wire brush, tooth brush sized, at many auto parts store.  Reach up under the fender, and when the voltage regulator bolts are screwed in, brush the exposed part of the bolt threads that extend past the trapped nut in the inner fender.  Reapply penetrating oil on the threads of the bolts, on the back side of them, and try to unscrew the bolt again.   If the bolt becomes hard to turn, apply penetrating oil on the exposed part of the threads, inside the the inner fender, and screw the bolt back in.   Keep working the bolt in and out, applying oil on the threads as they are exposed, turning the bolt the other way again.

It may seem like this is a long process, but compared to drilling a broken bolt, and retapping the damaged hole, this is easy.

 

If you replace the voltage regulator, you will have to deal with this anyway.   When it is apart, clean the connections.    You may not need a new voltage regulator.  If you have a stock OEM voltage regulator, I would not condemn it too quickly.  Nissan uses very high quality electrical components in their cars and trucks, Datsuns included.

 

Once again, I cannot stress the importance of having very good connections between the battery, the alternator and the voltage regulator.  If the connections are still bad, a new voltage regulator will not fix the problem.

 

A $10,000.00 stereo system will sound like crap if the wires between the components are bad.  Same principle applies to auto electrical connections, bad wires will not allow good parts to work correctly.

[d.p]

As far as I know its the stock one, looks like the srews haven't been touched since this truck was built.  And again if I see 16v when revving it that would be VR not the alt?  Hainz replaced both VR and the alt so who knows which was causing it on his.  

 

Anyways got the ground screw and cleaned up that area. The second one did not want to give up the ghost (neither really did) but two sets of vise grips and a lot of PB were not match for it.  Would like to replace them with bolts instead so will look for 1/4-28 instead of those soft screws. Should I put the ground in between the VR and the fender or leave it on top of the VR?

 

FUCK THESE TWO SCREWS:!!!

 

[datzenmike]

 

This is fine and looks the easiest.

[DanielC]

The way mike did it, and pretty sure the factory runs the bolt into the ground lug, then through a voltage regulator ear, and into the inner fender.

I would get a 1/4-28 tap, chase the threads in the bolt holes. 

There are special washers, that look like a star, or a circle with teeth pointing into the middle.  These type of washers make a better electrical connection.

I would assemble in this order. bolt, ground lug, star washer, VR ear, into the inner fender.  If threads are damaged on the inner fender, reach up under the outer fender, and put a 1/4-28 nut on the end of the bolt.

Putting silicone sealer on the bolt or nut and bolt end under the inner fender will help seal it against water getting into the threads of the bolt, and corroding it again.