Bad voltage regulator causing BIG problems. Don’t burn your mopar down.

[@NathansMoparGarage]

Good thing you caught that regulator in time. Another good upgrade is to run a heavy wire from the alternator lug to the battery terminal with a fuseable link.

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Excellent tip!

[@stephenprice8029]

That's what I did by the way thank you for answering my comment love the show I'll be watching more of them

[@crazeyspivey]

I ran this "shunt wire", but w/o a fuseable link........what size did you put in, around 20 amp?

[@MichiganRay]

I learned another thing today. If you have stepped up the draw on your electric system you need to add a larger wire feeding the regular, field wire. Everything is drawing more current. Just going from the stock 18 to a 14 reduces the resistance feeding the field is a inexpensive improvement. The extra ground wire is a good move. The part of the field wire that feed the regulator is just telling the regulator what it needs to do. In 1970 MOPAR went to the current moving through the ground is what controls the voltage that the alternator delivers. Always make sure that the plug on the regulator is tight. A loss fitting plug will cause heat at that connection. They are not always good out of the box. But like he said here you get what you pay for. Always check the resistance from the regulator case to a known good ground point. A 80$ regulator not grounded well is not going to do its job or last very long.

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Very good points!

[@MichiganRay]

I been fighting to have proper voltage for years. First adding a stereo, electric fuel pump, radiator fans, transmission cooler fan, an AL6 box, ran a electric water pump for a few years but have gone back to mechanical one, over heating on Woodward was a problem for many years. The electric pump worked well until the voltage dropped below 12.5 V. Then to top it off when I thought I had it,, good voltage I added the Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4. All of it wants more amps and steady Voltage. It's a 1969 Barracuda, Michigan car, that was driven in the winter for the first twelve years of its life. Corrosion everywhere, the firewall connections were a mess. Like the video will have to look at more of them. There is always something new to learn and KZbin makes that easier.

[@DuddiesAdventure]

Anything you can do to prevent to factory Dodge wire fire is a good thing. Great episode !

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

This one was self imposed unfortunately lol

[@tomreyn3610]

Grounds are good. Battery to block, battery to chassis, block to chassis. And ground to electric components, VR and ICM. If you are concerned about corrosion, put some dielectric grease on it. If you are concerned about full voltage feed, keep it under the hood with direct feed relays, The firewall plug is 50 years resistive connections.

[@stephenprice8029]

I'm also a mopar man going through the same problems with my 85 dodge pickup and like you I bought a 20 dollar part that lasted about 2/3 months my battery is getting hot high voltage that I've noticed really bright headlights genuine mopar parts just can't beat them

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Were you ever able to get this fixed??

[@user-ms4lp5wq4v]

In the ignition circuit, cars of that era had a number of radio suppression capacitor/condensers. One may be on the coil. One may be on the alternator. One may be connected to the clock, another to the instrument cluster. These may be blown, as they were never designed to last this long. If any of them are bad, it will create the symptoms of a bad voltage regulator, with flickering lights and a dancing needle on the ammeter. Toss them out or replace them before putting expensive new parts in the charging system.

[@edsmachine93]

Great video. Glad your car is fixed. Thanks for sharing. Take care, Ed.

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Was fixed anyways lol

[@silverstar4289]

I think you solved my issue. Just got my restored Mopar road ready and system is always negative charge. I will check to see if my freshly painted firewall is bare behind the regulator mounting

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Hope it helps!!

[@robertarends2458]

The original bolts that hold the voltage regulator and the ECM are special 1/4" x 20 bolts with a captured spin washer the has raised edges that cut into the paint and provide a good ground those bolts have a anchor symbol on them.

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

You’re not wrong, but there’s nothing wrong with going above and beyond to ensure you have a great ground.

[@crazeyspivey]

Are you going to add a "shunt wire" from the alternator straight over to the battery positive? Dead Dodge Garage does a good video on the reason why all of us Dodge owners should do so. Right now, even with the shunt wire, the alternator is still putting out too much......15.5 - 16 volts at idle. I guess I should order the quality Mopar Volt Regulator as you did. How high was your volt reading when things went into "meltdown"?

[@mikuro7992]

I've had the same problem like 5 months ago. I was driving on the highway when smoke came from the dash. I have pulled over immediately and found out at home that the regulator has failed (the battery was charged up to 18V). But the smoke actually came from the ammeter wire that melted away, together with the ammeter itself (another weak part in a mopar electrical system). I've got a new one now, just have to repair the wire terminal... The new voltage regulator is an SMP VR125, so not an original product either, but I might switch to an OEM part.

[@windsor7584]

Did you have to replace the wire only or the gauge also. Where is the replaced wire located. Thanks.

[@rogergorrell1849]

Thanks Mikuro. It looks to be the same situation with my regulator. I've fitted a new spare that I already had but this weekend I will remove it and clean everything back to bare metal undrneath the lugs and then keep an eye on the ammeter as I have a feeling that it is probably the main cause of the problem.

[@rogergorrell1849]

a big part of the problem

[@stanleyness7230]

Had lots of problems w cheap China voltage regs.i have to go to dodge dealer for performance parts.thanks.

[@sonnymorris4881]

im glad that you got it figured out you have worked too hard and too long just to have it go up in smoke

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

You ain’t lying man lol

[@joesixpack8305]

Could not agree more with you about the cheap voltage regulator. I have a '93 Dakota 5.2L. They put the regulators in the OBD1 (idiots). Instead of getting another PCM I added an external voltage regulator and bypassed the PCM regulator. You have no idea the amount of time I have spent on getting it right (still not sure it's right). My advice: 1. You MUST have a solid ground. An absolute MUST. 2. Check your connections not once, not twice, not three times, not four, five or six times. Check them over and over and over. Any weakness whatsoever and you will get funky results. In my case, I have slightly munched threads on one of the field wire connection studs on the alternator. It rears its ugly head big time. 3. Exactly what you said...do NOT skimp on parts and especially the regulator. I started out with that cheap Chinese crap and they were nothing but a headache. Ended up with a New Old Stock OEM Mopar regulator. Much better! I'd like to know where you got you regulator, OEM, part#, etc... Thanks for the vid bud!

[@NCmtnDweller]

My Military power wagon runs like 15.2 volts which is a little high. I have quality USA voltage regulators also 76 model Truck

[@TNTd0tComSecrets]

This video is helping me with something I am dealing with on getting my Dodge to start every time. Also what did you use (insulation) on the inside roof of your building?

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

I haven’t insulated it yet lol it’s a hot box in there during the summer.

[@TNTd0tComSecrets]

@@BlownBudgetGarage I saw the yellow on the inside. Looked like spray on insulation. I have the same issue from the sun heating the metal. But helps during the winter in KY.

[@marystearns1555]

If you take cable off while it's running and truck died, us this a for sure test that. The alternator is bad for sure or could it be bad voltage regulator?

[@SH00T_TH3PUMP]

Im getting 16 volts to my battery and the ballast resistor is brutally hot. I have one of those chinese regulators on mine. I think this will bring the flow down to the correct level. Can you give me the full number of that new regulator? Id appreciate it! 🙂 (Only i have a slant 6) I see it on jegs, but i just wanna be sure.

[@dougspicer7443]

What brand voltage regulator did you improve to?

[@dougspicer7443]

What brand voltage regulator did you use?

[@frederickshipp8013]

Thanks for sharing. 👍

[@olikat8]

Another important thing..? Instrument cluster voltage regulator. Real Time Engineering sells an electronic unit that is far superior to the original piece and the parts store pieces.

[@danielworden4695]

Things you want to know before you paint your car im sure 😉 this is the place you dont need any paint.😊

[@71sixpak]

There is one piece of this video that is BAD BAD BAD advice. Do NOT grind the paint off the body to get a ground. The factory never did it and still doesn't do it. Bare metal corrodes, corrosion causes BAD ELECTRICAL connections. All you need is a bolt with the proper captive washer. That is a washer that has teeth to bite into the paint. I've been working on vehicles, specially muscle cars, for over 35 years. I know what I'm talking about.

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Cool story

[@peternylund6089]

I put proper ground to the regulator. But sonettens is wrong. The fusebox gets very hot and the dome light starts to shine. What went wrong?

[@danielkane5646]

I have a 68 crown 440 and picked up a Napa regulator for about 56 bucks, going to install it after work. Hoping the Napa one isn’t some junk pos. Whatcha think?

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Fingers crossed! My el cheapo autozone one failed after only a handful of hours.

[@michaelstrafello7346]

so when you put the original regulator in was the battery fully charged a low battery will cause a high charging rate just sayin

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Great question! The original one was a repop from autozone that I bought that lasted about 2 hours of use. Brand new fresh fully charged battery. No issues since replacing it with the mopar performance regulator.

[@RayCeci]

I have 12.3 volts coming in to ballast but only 6-7 volts going out to the coil is that the problem or the ignition module

[@RayCeci]

No spark sometimes

[@charlesbradley423]

Thank you

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Anytime 🙌🏼

[@RockyTopSplash]

I see that hat!! Where in TN are you?

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Lewis county

[@jeremyschneider8981]

What did you do to bypass amp meter?

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Just connect the wires together. Thats all that’s needed.

[@karlsracing8422]

I'm going one wire alternator.

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Nothing wrong with that GM definitely got that right

[@MarcS-mp1je]

What size small block Mopar and cam do you have? It sounds good. By the way, sadly I’ve been down the cheap voltage regulator path my self and caught it just in time as well, but the cheap chinese one that I used was of the “adjustable variety “. Once I saw my voltage spiking upwards of 19 volts after like six months of installing it and my headlights looking much brighter than usual, I got rid of it and put a n.o.s. regulator on my 1970 Newport and all good since.

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

@@MarcS-mp1je just a 318 bored 20 over. I’ve since put in a Hughes roller cam and morrel roller lifters.

[@southbaychris]

How bout a link to a proper regulator

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

I just ordered the mopar performance regulator off Amazon

[@chumleye1112]

The problem is our wonderful governments pushed the farming out of everything to China and now damn near everything is made in China and you are hard pressed to find anything made in North America. There has been many newly rebuilt engines fail from faulty cams amongst other parts. Unfortunately it is hit and miss these days.

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

So many brand new cams wiping lobes. It’s honestly insane how bad the quality of parts have gotten.

[@C_71]

Actually, the companies want more profit and less taxes. They weren't forced to leave they chose to leave!

[@fratzogmopars]

What better way to get rid of internal combustion engine cars and force EV’s down our throat than to flood the country with crap Chinesium parts, making our old Detroit iron inoperable. Mission accomplished for the greenies and leftists.

[@ltbomb7194]

Better make sure that ground wire is behind the box not in the front like I see people do

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Yessir that’s exactly where it is. I’m pretty sure in the video I showed where I took the paint of the back corner on the box.

[@ltbomb7194]

@@BlownBudgetGarage yes you showed the part where you took off the paint but I didn't see the connection on the back. Just when you screwed in the front part. I'm so glad that worked for you I'm about to order that same set up for my car. Too many problem with my charging and I'm tired of the computer having it I want a separate unit

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

@@ltbomb7194 I haven’t had a single issue since swapping over to this voltage regulator. Highly recommend it.

[@ltbomb7194]

@@BlownBudgetGarage I can't wait. Soon like in a week or two. I've seen a bunch of other videos about these and yours is the only one that I've Seen that actually got me excited to do it. The others had too many problems with voltage fluctuating. And they all put the ground in the front. Lol

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

Thanks man I appreciate that. Hopefully it helps your problem. Stupid cheap one ruined a new wiring harness and almost burned my car down lol

[@SP95QUE]

my new chrysler regulator arrives today

[@smitty2516]

🍪

[@josephscott6642]

🍻

[@BlownBudgetGarage]

So happy it’s fixed lol only thing left is swapping out the power steering pump and I’d take it anywhere.

[@janicecoleman1766]

ive put 2 of these cheap peices of junk on my 85 dodge