The first thing you need to do is stop wasting your money by replacing parts. Then get a volt-ohm meter and a test light to test the circuits between the battery, the alternator, the ignition switch, the starter relay and the voltage regulator. (a.k.a. Charging System Circuits)
To start, the "B+" or "BATT" terminal on the alternator (large black wire) MUST have a solid, direct connection to the battery. Check for the proper voltage here. Then, the red wire on the alternator at the "F2" terminal should be HOT at all times. If not, you probably still have a bad fuse link that you missed. The "F1" terminal on the alternator (Light Green wire) is known as your "FIELD" wire. It comes from the "IG" terminal at the voltage regulator. It should be hot any time the key is in the ON position. If not, your voltage regulator is not working or your ignition switch is not providing power to the regulator. Finally, The "F" terminal (Red wire) at the regulator should be hot any time the ignition switch is in the ON position. This actually gets it's power from the starter relay, which gets its power from the ignition switch.
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Diodes are solid-state electronic components. They do not "reset". They either work, or they don't. They will either allow AC current to pass or they won't. They can be shorted or open, but they will not "reset" themselves.
You most likely have a voltage regulator that works only if it feels like it.
P.S. I would also recommend checking all the connections in your charging system between the alternator, the regulator and the battery. On a vehicle that old, I would not be surprised to find terminals that have turned green. This would be a more likely explaination of a charging system that works intermittently.
I checked everything before, some times physically unwraping and visually inspecting,used a test light multitester,as well.
when i said nothing i ment that i found nothing that seemed to be the cause.
acording to all the tests i ran the system should have been charging,but it wasn't.
I have seen this happen , and so have some very well trained machanics,but it isn't reliable, and one shouldn't wait for this to happen, this truck sat in drive for probably over 3 months,while i checked everything.
battery cable removed and put back on several times
if it were the diodes new alt should have fixed it,but didn't,if it were the regulator,new one should have fixed it,but didn't(assuming both new parts were good)
the charging system wasn't working intermittently, it wasn't working at all.
did somthing happen when i boosted some one ? maybe,did it reverse when i finally boosted the truck with my other truck(,thats a reach,yes)
You have to know what happens when you boost another car, or truck.
when the other automobile starts, it sends a currant back through the cables creating a surge which can damage your altenator,or the diodes, usually means a new alt is required,but sometimes if it's not too bad,but it usually is.
that's the reson for test equipment.
did i get lucky?,i think there is a reason for everything, even if we don't know it.
I will continue to moniter it
OMG!!! Who is feeding you all of this HOGWASH??? When you jump start another vehicle, it cannot possibly do ANYTHING to your charging system that it is not also doing to its own charging system when it starts up. If it didn't destroy the alternator in the other car, there is no way that it is going to destroy your alternator. Alternators get smoked during jump-starting attempts because people do not understand the difference between POSITIVE and NEGATIVE and hook the cables up backwards! If you did not hook the cables up backwards, there is not going to be some mysterious, charging system-altering,diode-wrecking, alternator-destroying "feedback" going on that has to be "reversed". The only thing that will happen is that the other car will begin trying to charge your battery as well as its own. The free electrons move from positive to negative...THAT'S IT! If anyone is telling you anything different, they are "techno-twitting". Or simply making stuff up to try and sound important.
I don't want to argue ,or ofend ,but the person who told me this was my dad who is now dead for 11 years, he retired after 40 years as amechanic one of the best everyone in the town ,and area where he worked.
HE was also a minister ,and felt self importance was to be avoided(like aplague).
truth was more important,"I" have SEEN it happen myself, i don't care if i am concidered important ,or not just sharing
I am amased,shocked,and stuned at your reply!
I would have thought that you would have seen this .
while this may not happen every time(maybe thats why) it's not at all uncommen.
Otherwise i think, from your answers you seem very knowlegable,and helpfull
P.S I should have been clearer ONE or BOTH, altenators can be damaged, as a trained tec you should know more than i, but you can't learn everything from books i'm sure you know this from experience.
keep up the good work !
I did not mean to offend you, your father, or anyone else for that matter. I am simply trying to point out that the charging system on your truck is very simple. If it works one time, then without explaination, it doesn.t work, then for some equally unexplained reason it starts working again. then this is an INTERMITTENT problem with your charging system. You said yourself "isn't reliable"...This is TEXTBOOK intermittent. Is is most likely to be explained by a faulty regulator or a bad connector or possibly even a broken wire that makes contact at times. It is not necessary to go off and try to explain it by some kind of mysterious "resetting diode". Keep it simple and you will most likely find the problem.
I thank you for your concern for my feelings
your logic is sound ,and i agree with it .
but wether or not the diode is the problem on this truck,
and since i replaced the alt with a new one probaly isn't
I don't concider it (the diode)in the least bit mysterious,but quite simple.(I am very SORRY) i don't mean to be difficult.
I am sure you believe just as strongly that it is,and i respect that.
I am going to keep an eye on it to see if it continues to charge.
I like to know what caused it , be cause if it happened once , and hasn't been properly repaired it can happen again.
I don't need that
thank you very much,you have been very kind
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bought tester checked as indicated, nothing
Truck sat in same place in drive untill yesterday, when i decided to move it, the battery was still up enough but because truck had been setting it took a while to get the gas up to the carburator,so i had to charge the battery as usual.
turned truck around and backed it in truck died, not because of battery ,it ran out of gas.
I put more in because drive is elavated took to long to prime carb .
I actually had to use a come along to winch truck to amore level spot.
recharged battery again as you can guess this went on for a while, at one point i hooked the booster cables up and charged the battery with my other truck ,finally got the truck started.
after two, or 3,times used tester to check alt (IT IS CHARGING!) 14.24-29 diodes reset in alt,ask a machanic
(who knows his stuff)
I had given aboost to some one before all of the trouble started.
DON'T leave it running when boosting some one!
DIODES, think of them kind of like breakers,sometimes they reset,( SOMETIMES)
Boosting - a noob question
The order of attaching the cables, and the location that you use are important.
The proper by the book way of doing is
positive leads first, on the location specified in the vehicles owners manual (either the battery, or a remote boosting terminal)
Neg leads afterwards, on a chassis ground AWAY from the battery. Reason being the possibility of a spark on the terminal igniting hydrogen gas from the battery causing an explosion.
You can charge the dead battery by running the boosting vehicle, but you are susposed to shut off the boosting car before cranking the dead vehicle. The reason for that is, the instantaneous load on the charging system for the first moment of cranking is ******* your alternators internal components.
I don't think it would ever be an issue for most cars, but for service trucks or tow trucks that boost on a regular basis it is more important.
Don't worry about your car overcharging your little motorcycle battery. The battery can only draw what it requires. Fact is to boost a motorcycle, your car battery will have more then enough capacity to turn the engine over.
found this on another website , this describes more clearly ,and from an indapendant sorce,
EXACTLY what i was trying to share.
thank you for your kind concideration ,and patience
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