ammeter is bouncing

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a68postcar

a68postcar

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i've seen this before but can't remember what it was.when i run my lights it just bounces the gauge at the center it bounces 5 or 10 degrees plus and minus.it stays in the middle and it's charging. bad ground? bad alt.? bad regulator? ???????? btw its on my 74 duster /6 automatic.
 
D: loose alt. drive belt
E: all the above. Good luck
 
thanks redfish. the belt is tight but it may be shot. it just seems kinda strange to see the needle bouncing like that. i'm gonna have to do some more investigating and see what i can see. the bear went over the mountain, you know what i mean. thanks again, will let you know what i find tomorrow.
 
If its anything like E-body ammeters its probably going to start a fire soon:salute::angry7:
 
Its the old non solid state voltage regulator (it regulates by going on/off, thats the bounce)... Replace it with a modern version (direct replacement you can get from NAPA or other).

Or live with it.
 
well, because it a 74, it has a solid state reg. and 2 field alt. i'm gonna hooh an ammeter up to the hot side of the gauge and see what its doing on a good meter. if its jumping around on it i may be able to assess this a little deeper.1968formulas340 if this was yours could you live with it? just thought i'd ask.

duster backyard 001.jpg


duster 015.jpg


duster 010.jpg
 
My car did that for 25 years... Then I got one of the new electronic regulators form napa and it went away. Thats just my experience.
 
I have one that does it too...........It acts just like an old 67 style that flickers at a traffic light.......and it's a 74...........

Sometimes it's worse than others........sometimes it acts like a normal mechanical regulator would act, and other times it acts wild........

8)
 
it has a pretty big sound system in it, but it also is the 65 amp alt..im hoping i find a loose ground or something like that.thanks for posting back ya'll. more to follow. i hope.
 
E3 spark plugs will cause all sorts of things to go haywire in your car, I found out the hard way.
 
If the sound system were causing it, you should see it when the bass is thumping. If its a big enough sound system with a lot of bass, you may need to install capacitors to keep the bass from dragging down the system.
 
i put a regulator in the 74 duster today. it was doing some funky things. sometimes not charging, sometimes over charging. most of the time it was fine. today when i was troubleshooting it, i saw it go as high as 16 volts. i had a new napa regulator so grounded it right to the alternator and plugged it in, sure enough the 1974 mopar regulator was acting up.
 
Cool looking duster there a68postcar.Like the paint colour,rims and the wing,looks real sharp.
Hope you get your electrical problem fixed.
 
me too i'm gonna mess around with it tomorrow. thanks alot plumdart, i love to drive it.
 
mmm what was it?
I'm facing same prob with new alt, new mech regulator, new belt. Mine is only bouncing at idle...

I also bypassed my bulkhead connectors in the charging system so its not that mess. I'll buy a quality electric reg and see what it does.

I kinda also suspect the connections at the ammeter, but am being lazy about not wanting to pull out my instrument cluster.
 
1969dodgedartgt said:
mmm what was it?
I'm facing same prob with new alt, new mech regulator, new belt. Mine is only bouncing at idle...

I also bypassed my bulkhead connectors in the charging system so its not that mess. I'll buy a quality electric reg and see what it does.

I kinda also suspect the connections at the ammeter, but am being lazy about not wanting to pull out my instrument cluster.
Click to expand...


If it helps, there is nothing inside the amp gauge itself that can cause needle bounce.
 
Had a Mopar resto regulator that did the same thing. Replaced it w/the same, no mo bouncy bouncy needle. The old regulator is in the trunk just in case.
 
Start the car, then snake your hand up, and grab the ammeter. Is it holy cow hot? Bad connections.
 
Last one I saw do that had a diode broken loose in the alternator. I took it apart and put in a new diode pack and it's been fine since.
 
Had a similar problem with the 73. Spent a lot of quality time with a box of Q-tips and a can of electric contact cleaner on the bulkhead connectors. A lot of stuff worked better afterwards (especially lights and HVAC blower motor).
 
Stacked360 said:
If its anything like E-body ammeters its probably going to start a fire soon:salute::angry7:
Click to expand...

TRUST ME...that's what happened to mine...Had to have my Dart roll-backed almost 90 miles and had one HELL of a mess. Either upgrade to the 60 amp replacement from YearOne, have it sent to Redline and converted over toa voltmeter, or what I ended up doing after replaceing all the melted wired and plastic...by pass it. There are a few threads on here that mention this with the website.
http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml
I also did the Headlight wiring upgrade from Painless. Haven't looked back! Headlights and dashlights are way brighter.
 
regulator is grounded.
I didnt suspect the ammeter is causing it, but maybe a loose connection at the ammeter, maybe the connection jiggles when I'm reverberation at idle, idk....

I'll check the heat of the ammeter.
Thanks
 
If you don't find a loose or corroded connection it's probably a bad diode in the alternator. Only way to know for sure is have the charging system checked out. Some places still do it for free. Good luck!
 
RedFish said:
If it helps, there is nothing inside the amp gauge itself that can cause needle bounce.
Click to expand...

I agree. The ammeter can not cause it to bounce. It can cause other problems like no charging at all and even start a fire like mentioned so it is something that should always be checked out.
 
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