HI guys,
I'd like to first say..that Ive been going thru the forums for weeks now and havent really be able to figure this problem for my Frankenstein.

Having a prob with the gen light being on but cant properly figure the problem why. From the beginning....I have had more than a few electrical issues with my c3, First one being a secondary coil mounted in the engine compartment to bypass the fried silenoid on the starter. replaced the starter and rewired it correctly,paying close attention to all the grounding wires. tested the altenator including the diodes inside and it seems to be working and charging fine. checked the connections from the fuse panel they are good to go. checked the volts from the alt im getting 13.8 volts and the battery im at 12.5. also when i pulled the dash.... the instrument panel connects are good to go also. while going thru the wiring harnesses I noticed that most of the Factory alarm system wires were fried and melted together (light blue/white stripe). so i pretty much removed what was left of the whole factory alarm system. put everything back together and the gen light still wont go off and now the same thing happened to my interior light..it wont go off either.
not to mention that I can get only one tail light to work properly Im at the verge of throwing my hands up and just starting over with a different car. any ideals that you guys can throw my way ..would be greatly apprcieated

 

First, dig out your local Yellow Pages, and find a place that rebuilds starters and alternators.

Then remove your alternator, and have them test it. If need be, have them replace it.

Then, slowly, fully charge your battery...if you don't have a charger, take it to an Oreilly.

Put the battery back in with the checked and possible rebuilt alternator, and see where you sit.

The GEN light simply means that either the battery or the alternator is below the voltage level of the other.

I suspect the alternator.

 

Update
Had the hook up at the local Autozone, tried a brand new outta the box alternator..still had the same problem..had it and my old alternator retested. telling him his tester was screwy.....still reading in the green..
This whole electrical thing is a lil more complicated than i thought ..any more suggestions?

 

could it be that the GEN light is grounding out behind the dash? I had that problem when i put my dash back together. The "tape" copper connection in the middle plug folded a tab over on the one next to it and the light stayed on.

 

I have a similar problem with the gen light. It stays on very dim when I first start the engine. After driving a while the light gets dimmer and finally goes out completely. The gauge shows that the battery is being charged in a normal manner.

I took it to my local mechanic with the idea of having the alternator removed and bench tested. He suggested that this could be a problem with the voltage regulator and recommended that as long as the battery is being charged don't get excited, drive it and see what happens. It has been this way now for a number of months without any apparent problem.

I don't have any of the other problems that you describe.

 

ill check that again..but i had the dash out a few times and the circuit board looked to be in really good condition

 

When I first got my 79 the Gen light was on. According to the PO "it had just recently started acting up, right about the same time the oil pressure went up". In his wisdom he suggested that replacing the oil pressure sender (on block above oil filter) would solve both problems. Well, long story short, the original sender was fine but the wire connector at the top of the sender was filthy/worn and not making clean contact. I refreshed it and both probs went away. NO idea why they went together but it was cured. Only thing I can think of is some kind of cross talk through the connections on the flexible circuit board behind the gauge cluster. Are your gauges all working properly?

Best of luck

 

mine was a blown fuse.. then the fuse wasnt making connection properly. made it make connection and it went right away

 

Thx for response...Guages are working fine..for a brief period they were acting up...for instance the tach was running backwards 70 was 0 vise versa... and all the dash lights were extremely dim but i changed the battery rechecked and wiggled a few grounds and the prob went away but the gen light stayed on strong. ill replace the sender plug that on it, since i already have one and was gonna replace it anyways hope it does the trick.

 

fuses are in pretty good..making good connections..but ill replace anyways since i have a bulk amount..thx for the ideal

 

When you pull the 2 wire plug from the alt with the car running does the gen light go out?

 

UpDATE...
HAS ANYONE SEEN THIS KINDA CRAP BEFORE!!!

I think i finally figured the problem.... Dug really Deep into the Wiring harnesses followed back down into the fuse Block...
Has anyone every Had a Fuse Block Go Bad? I noticed that there were a few Melted Areas on the Fuse Block itself..Using a test light Tested most of the connections and found that 50% of them weren't getting any type of power... I tried removing the bolts holding the Fuse Panel on...but i guess the wires are a bit shorter than i expected cant get it to move away from the firewall..I've been in uncharted territory dealing with this whole wiring thing from day one..will anyone please explain the correct way to remove the panel if ANY

So, if the Fuse Block is Bad ,it would explain alot about the previous owner, why the external silenoid was added bypassing the fuse block to augment the chargeing system, why only a few of the lights will operate at times

PLEASE any insight will help greatly...I've Ran outta warm weather and Patience

 

no not at all ...no response..has no effect

 

When you were testing the fuse panel did you test with the IGN on? Some fuses only have power when the key is in the IGN position.

 

lol...oh yeah i did....about 7 to 8 different times off and on....I wasn't about to let a lil detail like not having the key on or off slip by me while testing fuses...

thx tho for putting that out there...I can see you guys are really trying to help me out here ..and I thx you for that...

 

Sounds like you have quite the mess going on there.

 

did he test it with the bench tester or go outside and test it on the car... with you saying its still reading green im assuming it was tested on the duratester (bench tester) have him test it on the car for two reasons, one the alternator will pass off the car if its putting out proper volts.. but that does not mean its putting out the proper amps under a load..

two you said at your battery you was only reading 12.5 volts you should be reading 13.8 if your alternator is charging.. what I would do is get a test done with the alternator on the car it should at least put out 13.8 volts and 65 amps.. if it doesn't put out the proper amps but does volts see how many amps your off shouldn't be anymore then 10. then if its showing that you have no output on your alternator wire you need to double check your fuse able links that is on your wiring harness that leads from the firewall down to the starter

 

did you take a look to see what those fuses control?? if 50% of them are bad then you should have ALOT of things not working.. and it shoud not cause the gen light to come on.. if anything it wouldnt work at all

 

I guess To say in simple terms there were alot of things that where bypassed in the car (ie...) Extra silenoid because the orginial one on the starter was fried ..they never bothered to remove it just jumpered another one ....Melted wiring throughout the interior that used to operate what the wiring diagram is saying was a Factory alarm system and interior lights...I could get only one tail light to operate and no brake lights, and 1 front hazard light and 3 marker lights, found numerious splices in that wiring also that leads to abosolutly nothing just dangling there under the Dash im thinking it was an aftermarket switch that was ripped out at some point ...Easily put this thing is an electrical Nightmare

Im thinking It would be a good ideal to just start from stratch ...but being a diesel mech in the Navy i dont have near the ability or experience to do that kinda work.Ive gotten as far as i did with the help of some navy electrician buddies I work with BUT most of these guys arent really car types so I get alot of shoulder shrugs.

 

Believe it or not most of the guages and lights work, but from the look of things I think they are split into other harnesses and stacked on different fuses...I have no ideal how that was managed..but in my opinnion I think that explains a couple melted spots on the fuse block