alternator & voltage reg

went to start her today but nothing one of wire on ign barrell tends to come off sound undid inst panel sill me didnt disconnet batttery whoops spark from a wire on barrell now nothing at all? i have a alternator and wires going to voltage reg do i need the reg?????????? and she still not starting, there is power going into voltage reg, there is no power to fuse box. No lights exterier or on dash, no ancillaries have any power.
Crossed solenoid and starter is working so power to that. any ideas folks pleeeeaaaaaaaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee???????????

Blown a fuse somewhere by the sound of it.

That tends to happen when you short wired out and get sparks.

fusebox should be on the bottom casing on the steering column if its the old glass fuses they may look fine on visual inspection but often they blow at one end just out of sight

As far as I'm aware you don't need a voltage reg, straight from the alt to solenoid and then battery and other one to warning light.

Most alternators have a voltage regulator built in to them.

Steve R1979, Its the series 2A.they only have 2 fuses 35amp in the engine compartment on the bulkhead. Both fuses have been changed. Thats why the voltage regulator is the suspect. I am aware of what shorting out wires does. I may be a woman but that really doesnt mean I am thick! I am asking for sensible assistance, I can take a joke but come on.

Thanks tellboy thats a real help, not sure though whether the voltage stabiliser is a voltage regulator or maybe a ballast resisterin the diagram? what are your thoughts?

Stabliser is just for guages. Difficult to say how anything is wired on a vehicle that is 40+ but no, I doubt you need a seperate reg.

Have you checked the main earth connection?

I'd bypass it to initially see if everything works (should at least fire up lighting circuits as they should effectively be wired direct from the battery) if it fires up check DC voltage at the battery with the engine revving. If the reading is less than 14.4v the current is regulated (battery needs to be fully charged to be sure i believe so may be worth checking again after running a while)

PS Whether your a woman or not nobody knows how much you know and we all sometimes miss the obvious so all we can do is make suggestions.

jackie007 said:

Steve R1979, Its the series 2A.they only have 2 fuses 35amp in the engine compartment on the bulkhead. Both fuses have been changed. Thats why the voltage regulator is the suspect. I am aware of what shorting out wires does. I may be a woman but that really doesnt mean I am thick! I am asking for sensible assistance, I can take a joke but come on.

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No your right, just because your a woman it doesn't mean your thick, although, lets be honest, Jackie is a mans name as well is it not.

What does prove your thick is that you've posted almost the same question, in the same section, under 2 different headings just a few hours apart.

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f6/help-needed-185964.html

thanks for help n advice chaps looks like i needed wet suit to get it sorted today will try all. Posted 2x cos didnt think was getting responses untill signed out then in again.

Yu have to realise this is a forum, not a landrover help desk. Whether yu get a reply ( and what type of reply) is down to the members.
I suggest yu gave a look around and get a thicker skin. Peeps say it as they find it, so be forewarned. Some don't take prisoners .

As I said on your other post I'm not a series expert. But I am a mechanic. If you have power it should at least turn over?!?! So, alternator, voltage regulator, stabiliser, dynamo, flux capacitor! None of that should affect the starter circuit! You say it cranks when you bridge the starter solenoid? That suggests no power from the ignition switch to the starter, so get a test light and see if there's a battery live at the back of the ignition switch. No? Trace wire back to battery looking for a fuse or burnt/damaged section. If you do have a permanent battery live there turn the ignition on. Get test light, at least one more wire should come live and your dash lights should come on! No more lives? Check the switch part is attached to the back of the barrel and it's actually turning! If that appears ok suspect the switch! If you do get an ignition live there, next test is hold the key in the crank position then look for another live at the back of the ignition switch, this is the crank signal to the starter! No power? Suspect ignition switch! Power? trace wire to starter and check for breaks corrosion burns etc, it may or may not go thru a relay so look for one of those too. You are now equipped to check the basics so get your scuba gear and report back good luck! W
If you do the above and find the fault and get the engine to crank/start you may still have damaged othe things as mentioned, but you need to get the basic circuits working first then you can move on to regulators and the like but hopefully you won't need to

Could it be the solenoid stuck? As it got short it's welded it self to n/o position happens a lot with contactors....

If its the piggy back type you wouldn't be able to bridge it to make it work! If it is the old fashioned separate type then the test should lead to it cos it's just a big relay really! Not enough info to be sure!?!?

some early alternators had a control box, it looked like a flasher unit, also its quite normal to leave the dynamo control box on to act as a junction box when converting to an alternator, Use a test lamp not a meter and chase the power from the brown wire on the solenoid upto the ignition and from there to the fuse box

OK there's two sorts of electrical generation on landys. The older ones have a dynamo generating DC with an external electro mechanical voltage regulator bolted to the bulkhead. It's a big box with a black plastic cover usually on the passenger side in the engine bay. Later landys have an AC alternator which has the diode pack (makes AC into DC) and the voltage regulator inside it. Some dynamos have been replaced with alternators and use the old voltage reg as a connection point - there are threads on here about this. you'll need to know what you've got.

I'm new here and certainly don't claim to be an expert on series landys. Also I don't want to tread on any ones toes so if I'm wrong tell me to sod off
Firstly there is a lack of info which makes it tricky so you have to make assumptions!
It's a non start!
It doesn't crank from the key.
No lights on dash. As I understand it.
External lights not working.
Sparks and smoke from ignition switch!
Battery charged
Ancillaries not working?
Cranks if solenoid bridged!

From that you can reason that the battery is hopefully ok (it will crank), alternator etc was working up until it was parked cos it's not flat and didn't break down. There is a fundamental power supply problem. A big one!
You clearly have power at the solenoid because you can bridge it to make it crank. I assume that is supplied straight from the battery like on most older cars, you don't appear to have power to any other circuits tho? Or that's what I'm reading? So there is a major power supply that goes into the car for non ignition stuff like lights and ignition stuff like dash warnings and cranking. Which isn't live! Now this is where I'm struggling, the alternator is connected to the system where? Dunno it's a series! I'd imagine either to the external solenoid to charge down the supply cable from the battery or maybe straight to the battery. It makes no odds. Because none of the circuits mentioned need the alternator etc to actually work, they don't work thru the alternator. You can remove the alternator regulator etc chuck it in the bin and the car will drive and everything should work until the batteries go flat! The only possible complication I can see is if it's got an ammeter fitted which has failed or in its long life someone has done something odd with the wiring.
I'm used to more modern cars and haven't seen a dynamo system for years, but I have converted them in the past to alternators and they really shouldn't be that complicated!
To me it's a case of ignore the alternator etc just concentrate on why it isn't cranking, it's a very fundamental power supply failure. If you trace the main supply to the ignition back towards the battery you can't not find a major power problem. It really is such a major problem when it's found you'll be kicking yourself because it was so stupid.
You just need a test light to probe along the cable at different points?

Also can't see it being an earth issue cos you can make it crank!

Hope all this makes sense. Like I said I'm no series expert so if I'm missing something please tell me

woooo sorted for now but really need good weather to re wire and thx alot i bridged 2 wires from voltage reg then made a connection started but not with key so push start button and hey presto i have power For now that is but really. THX FOR HELP

I either need to brush up on my old school electrics or that's got some interesting wiring!?!? At least I was half right

jackie007 said:

woooo sorted for now but really need good weather to re wire and thx alot i bridged 2 wires from voltage reg then made a connection started but not with key so push start button and hey presto i have power For now that is but really. THX FOR HELP

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