ammeter reading

[azmichael1]

For a long time the ammeter on my 48 p-15 with 6 volt system read +10 amps (just to the right of the center of the guage) when idling or driving.....now I see that it reads -10 (just to the left of the center of the guage) but doesn't go any lower.....does this mean there is a draw somewhere or is this pretty much the way it should be ?

I checked my manual and it doesn't get very specific on this topic.

Any help anyone may have to offer would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Mike

[Plymouthy Adams]

the ammeter is a indication of current flow and not really an acccurate tool to measure exact draw...the fact it does go negative shows it could be in a state of discharge..however..you did not say the position of the needle with key off and battery disconnected...the needle should float a zero or darn close...is so..connect the battery..should still stay at zero with no load...pull on headlight..shuyld pull the needle to a discharge..trun off light, crank the car...should indicate a charge and be a tad high and quickly recover a bit and will eventually go toward zero..however if goes to negative..you will need to get an external shunt to check the current output of your generator..could be indicative of a bad regualtor...you can do a quick few test from the manual to help determine if gen or reg is the culprit..without the tools or book to proceed it is just guessing..

[greg g]

Did you recently change or remove the battery??? Did you put it back in with Positive conected to ground????

[azmichael1]

Tim and Greg;

Thanks for your help......it's amazing how easily a problem can be solved simply by asking guys on this site !

Thanks again and Happy Motoring................

Mike

[azmichael1]

Actually, I did a few things that were suggested here......cleaned and tightened all connections at ammeter,voltage regulator and generator,also

"sparked" (polarized ) the regulator and oiled the armteur of the generator,all this,combined with a few often used cuss words ,seemed to do the trick....not sure exactly what step did the trick but the combination of covering all bases seemed the way to go.

Thanks again guys

Mike

[BobT-47P15]

So, then, the battery was NOT in backwards???

[azmichael1]

Thankks to all the help I got here, my ammeter problem has been solved (the battery wasn't in backwards) and I just received in the mail the brand new (not NOS) two wire fuel level sending unit that goes in the tank and tells the gas guage how much fuel is in the tank......but no insructions......although there is one already in the car, that may or may not be properly installed,,Iwould feel better knowing that I was doing it right the first time , so,does anyone happen to have the steps for installing this or a pic of it after installation.

Thanks guys !

Mike

[BobT-47P15]

It's been quite a while since I had mine out.

I'm thinking the arm with float attached points toward the passenger

side of the car. And I think the screw holes will only line up in one

exact position.

Not sure of that.....but may be correct. Others will likely have a more

definitive answer.

And I believe the attaching points on the float are numbered 1 and 2.....to correspond with the

same numbers on back of the gauge.