Sean Jackson

Alright, generator is back in the car and it is functioning as it should. The VR must’ve decided to go out. I can’t figure out why it failed the first test, but as of now the gen. is putting out what it should when spun by the motor and can generate more than enough juice. I ran the engine, put a voltmeter at the output and grounded the field. It pegged the meter when I briefly revved the engine so I know it’s working. I guess these aftermarket VRs have about a one year lifespan. What junk. anyway, I’ll just order an NOS AutoLite and take it to the shop to have it all adjusted properly. thanks for reading

So I yanked (more like grunted) the generator out of the car and put it in the vice for the basic motoring test. Grounded the field terminal to the case, applied battery negative to the armature terminal and +6V to the case of the generator. The generator spins nice and fast in this configuration. Disconnecting the field terminal from ground it stops (as it should, right?). I have good continuity everywhere- from A terminal on generator to A terminal on VR, and from F terminal on generator to F terminal on VR. Generator case is grounded to engine block solidly. How come the thing just won’t charge? When I run the car and hit the armature terminal to ground I get no spark, that test should bypass the VR entirely right?? I’m pulling my hair out over this one

So I’m back to messing with the generator again, again. 1948 Windsor- all stock. Earlier today I was driving around and noticed a no-charging condition. First I checked the VR as it has been the biggest cause of headaches yet. The breaker contacts were simply not closing with the engine revving. At first it was slightly moving toward closed so I assumed the generator was making some juice but not enough. I pulled the generator brush strap and inspected everything, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. With the engine off I manually pressed the VR breaker contacts closed to see if the generator moved (motored) at all and I could feel the slightest jump as if it wanted to turn (belt still connected). It was very weak, just the slightest jolt. The points did show a small spark upon releasing. I then moved on to other tests with the engine running. Grounding the field and bringing the engine above idle yielded nothing on a voltmeter across the battery and no movement at the ammeter. Removing the armature wire at the regulator and striking it against ground yielded no spark. This must point to a generator issue, but I am at a loss at what could’ve gone wrong with it. Open winding? Are there any basic tests I can do with an ohmmeter to see what has failed? Thank you

Alright, I messed around with it a bit more today. Same problem was happening again, no charge indicated no matter the engine speed. Did the shop manual test of temporarily removing the arm. wire at the VR and striking it against a ground with engine revving to check for a spark. This would indicate the gen. is making juice but not making it past the VR. I got a spark, so the manual pointed toward an issue at the VR circuit breaker. I opened the VR up and watched the circuit breaker points as I raced the engine. They began to vibrate and move toward the closed position but did not fully close. I had my fiancée sit in the car and observe the ammeter while I revved the engine and pushed the CB points closed with my finger. Viola, a solid 10A or so charge on the dial. So, it appears that’s the issue. The VR I have is very easy to adjust the points gap for the circuit breaker. My question now is just how wide should that points gap be? I guess I can just trial and error it so that it kicks on just off of idle but I don’t want to set them so narrow that the generator becomes a motor at low engine speed. Any tips?

I was wondering about that. I did the regular gen. polarization before by quickly zapping between the batt. and arm. terminals when I was dealing with the problem but it didn’t do anything to change the situation. Then I grounded the field temporarily and it’s all back to normal. Weird.

The unit makes a lot more sense to me now, thanks Tech! I’m thinking it may just be out of adjustment. When I have more daylight I’ll pull it apart and check the gaps with a set of feelers. I haven’t got an ammeter that can handle the operating range yet.

Working on my ‘48 Windsor, all original setup with 6V pos. ground, generator and mechanical VR. Earlier today I noticed that the ammeter was suddenly showing no charge. Upon speeding up the engine, there was no response from the meter until I heard one of the points in the VR click around 1,500 RPM and I could just barely see the meter move. I went about testing things per the shop manual to see where the problem could be and started with the quick and dirty test of temporarily grounding the field terminal on the VR to see if there was any response from the ammeter. I held the jumper across the terminal and ground for only a split second, there was a spark, and the needle jumped back to a charging position. Now, after that brief test, the needle now responds as it normally would! Revving the engine the needle climbs slowly, eventually the VR clicks and the needle jumps a little higher yet. Turning on the headlights at idle the needle swings back to discharge, racing the engine brings it back up to about a 10A charge. What did I do? I appreciate any advice from those who truly know how these devices operate. thanks, Sean

Hey all: My generator appears to have bit the dust yesterday. First I checked the VR and cleaned the points to no avail. Then I tried the test of grounding the field terminal on the gen. while running/revving and watching for response on the ammeter- absolutely nothing but a tiny, tiny needle movement to the right when the VR clicked a little above idle where it normally does. Maybe it’s a simple fix, but in the meantime to get it back on the road I’d like to put in a 6V alternator. The car is a ‘48 Windsor. Can anyone recommend a good alternator that’ll be as close to a drop-in replacement as possible? It doesn’t have to be one of the stock-appearance ones since I’ll be fixing the original genny and just need something to keep the car on the road. I believe most the units I’ve seen are internally regulated and the original VR can be bypassed, is that correct? Other than that, what else goes into the conversion? Thanks, Sean

Well your hunch is correct, the engine was rebuilt about 10 years ago and I’ve found a few other little details that were slightly askew from the process too. Solid guess having never seen it, too!

Thanks for the input everyone! After draining and refilling the gearbox with fresh 10W it shifts exactly as it should and stays in gear.

Hey folks: I found that the road draft tube is missing from my ‘48 Windsor. Are all the tubes the same size and shape across the different displacements of 6 cylinder cars, or are the ones made for the 218/230 smaller? I have a lead on one out of a 230, but the length seems possibly a little short for my car since it would end about level with the transmission crossmember. thanks!

I haven’t experienced it in 1 and 2, although it seems a little more hesitant to shift from 1 to 2 when I’m on an incline. On level ground it does the 1/2 shift just fine. I haven’t driven it much in low range.

Thanks James. I won’t move the car until I’ve found some 10W for it. I’ve only put about ten miles on it in my ownership, but hopefully it wasn’t driven for too long BEFORE me with low oil.

So I’ve got the electrical side of my M5 gearbox working as it should again with very little effort thanks to you guys, but now I’ve discovered a new problem (and hopefully the cause and solution). In short: is it possible for low oil level in the transmission to let the car fall into a “neutral” state while driving in high range? I went for a test drive to see how the solenoid circuit was working and it passed the test. However, upon coming back up the road I noticed this: The car shifted just fine up into 4th at first, but a few moments later it seemed to drop into a neutral state. The engine would race without any of the power reaching the wheels. I pulled over and it went back into 3rd just fine, but then after taking off again it didn’t want to upshift (classic low oil symptom, right?) As soon as I got home I checked the level of the oil through the filler cap and found that it is definitely low. Obviously the next step is to top it off with proper SAE 10W, but my question is if this dropping to neutral behavior is a normal symptom of low oil pressure behind the direct drive piston? As I visualize it by looking at the diagrams, the oil pressure is all that’s holding the piston in place and keeping the shift fork forward when driving- and if the oil pressure is too low the pressure of the spring on the front of the piston could overcome it and let it push backwards. Is there enough room between the gears for this to happen? Or am I dealing with a more mechanical issue here? I’m visualizing the drive gear just spinning in the gap between the 3rd and the direct drive gears. I know the obvious answer is to top it off and try again, which I’ll do soon, but I just want to see if my issue is a common symptom or if I need to prepare for some more serious repairs. Thanks for your patience, I’m slowly learning how this thing is supposed to work! -Sean

It looks like it was a fluke, odds are I accidentally shorted something without first disconnecting the battery (oops). The relay and solenoid are working as they should now with a new fuse. Thanks!

Will do. I don’t have any more on hand so I just ordered a box of them. Will check back when I get them, thank you.

Hey everyone, First off let me apologize if this has been covered already. I searched the forum and shop manual and couldn’t find the info I needed. Just joined the forum a couple months back and have been lurking since my new purchase of a 1948 Windsor. I just got it on the road yesterday after sitting for a few months during snow (salt) season. The transmission was operating normally yesterday, shifting exactly as it should, but today it was acting odd. Yesterday I found that the kick-down wasn’t working in drive-high when I floored the pedal at about 35 mph. Got home and found that the plate on the throttle linkage wasn’t depressing the switch on the carburetor. I adjusted linkage and it’s now pressing the switch as it should. I switched the ignition on and was surprised to not hear the normal click from the relay... took it for a test drive anyway to see if my fix worked- no dice on the kickdown, and the car didn’t want to downshift automatically when coming to a stop. I had to put it in neutral and back into gear to get it to take off in 3rd instead of 4th (sloooow). I began electrical tests that are listed in the shop manual, and after two steps found that the relay fuse had blown! It was in good shape yesterday, I had pulled and inspected it. What might have caused that fuse to blow? The car has been rewired recently (and very neatly) and I see no bare connections that could’ve grounded. Thanks for any input, -Sean