wiring at solenoid

[bobmarlojill]

I am having trouble with my battery overcharging....was wondering if you all could look at the attached picture and see if I have a problem with not having the wiring block. as you can see I took the two black and orange wires and bolted them together and wrapped them with block tape. one comes from the alternator and the other goes to the main wiring harness. I just don't have the junction block. these aren't supposed to be grounded are they?

 

[Don C]

Those wires are not grounded. That is OK for a temporary connection while you're troubleshooting, but I wouldn't drive it like that, shorting those wires out could easily start a fire. If you connect them together at the battery post on the solenoid your ammeter will not work. The terminal you are missing is not easy to find.

The ground cable from the battery may be part of your problem. It typically runs from the battery to the lower screw on the voltage regulator, providing ground to the chassis and the voltage regulator and then to the engine. I'm not sure where yours goes to.

 

[Omie01]

+1 with Don, I had to clean little spots under my VR so everything could ground well. Have you checked your alternator output?

 

[bobmarlojill]

Those wires are not grounded. That is OK for a temporary connection while you're troubleshooting, but I wouldn't drive it like that, shorting those wires out could easily start a fire. If you connect them together at the battery post on the solenoid your ammeter will not work. The terminal you are missing is not easy to find.

The ground cable from the battery may be part of your problem. It typically runs from the battery to the lower screw on the voltage regulator, providing ground to the chassis and the voltage regulator and then to the engine. I'm not sure where yours goes to.

my negative from the battery goes down and grounds on the engine. then I have a ground on the bell housing to the firewall. Does that mean my regulator isn't grounded good enough? Should I change it? Can you take some pictures of what it should look like?

+1 with Don, I had to clean little spots under my VR so everything could ground well. Have you checked your alternator output?

I checked the battery while the car was running and it jumps all over between 14 to 16 volt. If I unplug the voltage regulator plug and check the battery running it was 12.6 volts. I noticed it was overcharging when I noticed some battery acid misted on the shock tower.

 

[Don C]

There's a good chance that your regulator is not grounded adequately. Check this thread about the battery ground connections:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-grounding-the-1972