63 Headlamps

[Michael G.]

Recently, I noticed that the battery gauge on my black 63 car discharges slightly, but steadily, when I turn on the headlights with the car running. It gets a bit worse with the brights on. Otherwise, the electrical system seems to function fine, I drove it 250 miles yesterday, (without the lights on) and it ran very well.

I never noticed this discharge before, but I really don't drive the car at night. The car has repop T3 headlights, so they may draw more current than the old ones.

Could the alternator be failing?

Thanks,

[Dan D.]

Re: 63 Headlamps

You should not see a discharge condition with the headlights on. I believe 63 alternators were 64 amps, way more than the generator of previous years.

If your T3s are Wagner, supplied by Lectric Limited or other vendors, they are not Halogen and draw only slightly more current than the originals.

You need to look at the charging system. Measure the battery voltage, should be 14 -14.4 volts fully charged with engine running. Even though you drove 250 miles, I would be concerned about getting stranded with it. -Dan-

[Edward J.]

Re: 63 Headlamps

Mike, you may want to check the voltage as Dan says, A quick check of the voltage output, Sometimes at with a low idle speed there maybe a slight discharge, and if you race the engine a couple hundred RPMS it may show okay, Make sure the correct RPM range is there to. If your 63 is a Automatic dropping into drive slows the charging rate down If your car is a stick idle speed Is Generally low on our cars, but about 700 RPMS in neutral should not cause a problem. for a stick and about 600 IN drive for a auto. I know these are not the factorY spec.s. but theres room for a little higher spec.

[Michael H.]

Re: 63 Headlamps

Recently, I noticed that the battery gauge on my black 63 car discharges slightly, but steadily, when I turn on the headlights with the car running. It gets a bit worse with the brights on. Otherwise, the electrical system seems to function fine, I drove it 250 miles yesterday, (without the lights on) and it ran very well.

I never noticed this discharge before, but I really don't drive the car at night. The car has repop T3 headlights, so they may draw more current than the old ones.

Could the alternator be failing?

Thanks,

Michael,

If the slight discharge condition only occurs at engine idle speed, I would say that it's normal, especially with 37 amp alternators that have the large diameter pulley like your FI car.

[Michael G.]

Re: 63 Headlamps

Edward, the car is a 360HP 327 with four speed.

Unfortunately, I can't get to the car to check the battery voltage until Saturday.

Michael, the discharge seems to be there at all engine speeds, as long as the head lights are on, but not when only the parking lights are on. When I turned the headlights off (after driving a few miles), the gauge showed a slight charge for a while, as would be expected to re-chage the battery, I think.

It appears that the alternator is not generating enough power to overcome the drain from the headlights, but can generate enough for ordinary operation. I thought this might be a loose belt, but it seems properly tightened.

I don't see this same drain on my other car, but its alternator has only a very few miles since re-build. I don't know how many miles are on the black car's alternator, but its not recent.

[Edward J.]

Re: 63 Headlamps

Mike a volt gage will show the charging voltage, this would be a health check of the charging system.(13.8/14.2 idling)


Mike, another thing that may be a problem is to look at is the belt tension, sometimes a loose or glazed belt ( shiney surface) will also give you a low charging rate. a easy way to check for a belt that may me slipping is to take your thumb and put some pressure on the alternator fan and see if it belt slips around the pulley. If so replace the belt.