madmanmurph

Hi All! I'm Murph and new to this board, Well Here's my problem, The Voltage gauge is bouncing when I turn the turn signals on and it moves when i hit the power window switch, when I put her into gear needle drops drops a little and is kinda bouncy and goes right back up to normal range, Battery and alt is new, I found the pos cable to starter was lose so i cleaned and tightened fusible links had been replaced at some time, all lights stereo etc. work fine. there is a custom stereo and an alpine power amp in back bucket it was powered to the battery and I have it unhooked it for right now, Oh my vette is 79' L-48 auto trans, I have an mallory unilite comp 9000 ditributor if any of this may make a difference, I am thinking maybe I should clean the negative battery terminals going to from bat. to frame /susp./ engine, I am not real experienced with automotive elect. systems and am trying to avoid going on a wild safari hunting for problem, I don't see any obvious problems, Is there some place(s) I should start first to possibly reduce my time hunting for this or should i get out the meter and just go for it, any advice or tips appreciated.
Thanx All :( MURPH :( P.S. afraid to drive her for fear of causing fire under this condition

79VetteMike

Start with your grounds. Faulty grounds are the majority of electrical problems. What amperage is your alternator? If you have alot of electronics that require alot of amperage, your alternator may have some trouble keeping up. Good luck.

Boofers

:iagree: with 79VetteMike.

Just curious - does it make a difference if the engine is on or off for the the voltage guage to jump around when you turn on the signal lights? Does the voltage drop down a few volts every time the bulb flashes or does it seem more random?

madmanmurph

No the voltage gauge does not move with the engine off if I put turn signal on ,but with engine on and turn signal on it bounces right in time and in perfect rythm with the turn signal light, I do not have anything electrical that is out of the ordinary hooked up right now... Check Grounds? Do you mean start with the neg. Bat cable that goes to the frame, I intend to unbolt and clean at all points

Boofers

Your electrical connections should be shiny so use sandpaper or a file on the lug and the other surface as well, then make them nice and tight. Good luck!

madmanmurph

Okay, May not get finished tonight but that is were I'll start, will keep ya'll posted and will check back later for any additional pointers. Thanx gang! your help is much appreciated. MURPH

dath

One more thing to check, try putting an analog volt meter on your electrical system, it may help isolate where your problem is. You may be fighting with just one circuit, or maybe have a bad gauge? Electrical problems can be difficult, especially in an old car where previous owners may have changed things (like adding a newer radio and amp). I agree about starting with ground connections. You could also try removing your alternator from the equation...

LAvetteman

:iagree: Except for the alternator part. The only time you should worry about upgrading the alt is when you add a big item like electric fans.


[Modified by LAvetteman, 10:34 PM 7/24/2003]