Over Charging Issues - Battery Issue? Update

[73TopBanana]

optima in my 73 challenger lasted 12 years!
their the best...

[Bullitt-]

Ground cable on passenger side; is there one from the factory??   Makes sense but mine did not have one and I have seen that question come up and folks said "no",  that the only engine ground is the negative battery cable to the left cylinder head.    There is a body ground lead in the harness going to the radiator support on the left side.  Am I missing one?

It won't be the vr. It will be dirty,  loose,  poor connections.
Bulkhead,  column, passenger valve cover connector.

Thanks @dodj I will clean all the connection up and see if that make a difference.  I already stared with the battery terminals and they were a little corroded and the negative terminal was a little loose.

One question though, what is the "passenger valve cover connector"?

I think he's referring to the ground wire that goes from the valve cover to the firewall.
Use a meter to see if you get close to the same voltage on the blue wire at the voltage regulator as across the battery. If not a wiring/connection issue could be the culprit. The regulator needs to get accurate reading to operate properly.

[/quote]

Definitely on my '73 but others say theirs never had. From what I've come to believe is this may have been added when electronic ignition was added.

[Mrbill426]

@Bullitt-  interesting... do you have or can get a picture of it?

Ground cable on passenger side; is there one from the factory??   Makes sense but mine did not have one and I have seen that question come up and folks said "no",  that the only engine ground is the negative battery cable to the left cylinder head.    There is a body ground lead in the harness going to the radiator support on the left side.  Am I missing one?

Definitely on my '73 but others say theirs never had. From what I've come to believe is this may have been added when electronic ignition was added.

[dodj]

It won't be the vr. It will be dirty,  loose,  poor connections.
Bulkhead,  column, passenger valve cover connector.

Thanks @dodj I will clean all the connection up and see if that make a difference.  I already stared with the battery terminals and they were a little corroded and the negative terminal was a little loose.

One question though, what is the "passenger valve cover connector"?

My '73 had a connector at the rear of the pass valve cover. Alternator wiring, temp sender, washer pump. Maybe yours doesn't have such a connector?
Also should be a ground strap from rear of passenger cylinder head to firewall.

[Bullitt-]

@Bullitt-  interesting... do you have or can get a picture of it?

Ground cable on passenger side; is there one from the factory??   Makes sense but mine did not have one and I have seen that question come up and folks said "no",  that the only engine ground is the negative battery cable to the left cylinder head.    There is a body ground lead in the harness going to the radiator support on the left side.  Am I missing one?

Definitely on my '73 but others say theirs never had. From what I've come to believe is this may have been added when electronic ignition was added.

[MoparLeo]

You can't have too many grounds. Factory was battery cable to front of cylinder head and to radiator support. Ground strap from firewall to either bellhousing bolt or passenger cylinder head. Doesn't matter which way as long as he engine is grounded to the chassis. The more grounds you attach, the less electrical problems you will have.
Remember that the engine and transmission sit on rubber/isolator mounts and need a good ground.

[dodj]

@Cuda jason
You can see the pass side valve cover connector in Bullitt's pic above. White on one side, black on the other.

[Cudajason]

@Cuda jason
You can see the pass side valve cover connector in Bullitt's pic above. White on one side, black on the other.

Got you.!  I do not think I have that.

I will check all that I can find.

[Topcat]

optima in my 73 challenger lasted 12 years!
their the best...

Yes, when they were made in Colorado.

[Mrbill426]

@Bullitt- thanks... maybe it was added as you say in '73.  I may install one back there anyway 

Ground cable on passenger side; is there one from the factory??   Makes sense but mine did not have one and I have seen that question come up and folks said "no",  that the only engine ground is the negative battery cable to the left cylinder head.    There is a body ground lead in the harness going to the radiator support on the left side.  Am I missing one?

[Cudajason]

Went out to check things out today and think I found the issue, well part of it at least.

Does not seem like there is much holding things together on the green wire.

Ordering a connector tonight from Rockauto.

[MoparLeo]

And the problem of venting the battery ?

[Cudajason]

And the problem of venting the battery ?

@MoparLeo not sure I follow?

I guess that the essentially broken green wire is contributing to the VR getting a bad reading and increasing the alternator output, which contributed to the batter overcharging and spiting out acid. 

I figure step one is fix that connection, clean all the connections on the engine harness and see what that does.

[Cudajason]

that picture actually makes it look better then it was...the green wire had at best two strands of wire still connected.  I pulled the harness off and the green wire basically fell apart.

Expecting a new VFR pigtail today.  Plan to solder it all together this weekend.

[YellowThumper]

Hope the green wire fixes the issue.
If not then check the voltage you are receiving from the blue wire. It needs to be virtually identical to the battery.
Cannot show exactly what I did on mine because most all wiring is now altered.
Fix though is to us a clean connection anywhere you can grab one that will represent what battery/alt will be supplying. That then will connect directly to the vreg blue wire. Relay in blue wire (#30 - #87 terminals on 5 pin relay) that is triggered to turn on with ignition. This provided clean signal to control voltage. Fyi I am controlling a Magnum alt with old vreg.