Gary Lewis

None of the Ford pubs I have say boo about the voltage/temp bit. And that includes the Bullnose FSM's, the 1995 FSM, and the two training booklets on Automotive Electrical Systems and Automotive Electrical Systems Review. But the '95 FSM did provide the chart below, which isn't very comforting as at my 640 RPM idle the output looks to be ~45 amps. And if there is a "knee" it is around 800 RPM, at which point we are all the way up to 65 amps. So it'll be quite interesting to see what this alternator puts out, and I should know later today. However, Power Bastards says theirs puts out 110+ at idle, although they didn't specify what RPM idle is. But they say it puts out 220 at 1200 engine RPM, so maybe I could get around 150 at 900, which isn't a bad "fast idle". So I do want to see an output curve from them. As to your point about alternator temps and battery temps, yes & yes. The battery probably doesn't get nearly as warm as the alternator given that it is up out of the air stream from the radiator. And yes, it would be nice to cool the alternator, which it turns out will be quite easy. In the pic below I'm showing that I can put that cold air fitting on the opening in the radiator support and its output will point roughly at the alternator. But I could easily add a short piece of the cold air ducting and take it right up to the air inlet holes of the alternator so it could pull air from in front of the radiator even when the truck isn't moving. The only minor problem is that I have the siren for the security system mounted there and pointing through that hole, so I'll have to move it. No big deal.

No, the inverter hasn't fussed due to low voltage. But it can? As for the set point, I don't think it is due to too much heat. I think it is designed that way. Both of the regulators I've tried did exactly the same thing - they go to 14.3ish on startup and then gradually come back down to 13.3ish. I'd read about this before, but here's a blurb I found here. And that 60C (140F) is easy to reach in the confines of a Bullnose engine compartment with a big block lurking about, and my regulators both seem to be following that "curve". I'm going to go look to see if I have any documentation in the Ford pubs on alternators and regulators...

I think we may have a different understanding of what was meant in previous posts. And I'm sure my own understanding has changed over time. The post about taking the grandtwins out and putt-putting around the church parking lot is here, but it doesn't mention battery voltage. That came up later in the conversation, which had a lot of twists and turns - as usual. And while I may have been thinking that the A/C system pulled the voltage down, as I've checked the system out further it looks like it is just that the regulator's set point is coming down as it heats up. I'm seeing 13.2V for system voltage, with or without A/C load, when everything is up to temp. As you pointed out, 13.2V is fully charged on these batteries, assuming you've taken the voltage up into the 14's to top them off after starting, so 13.2V isn't a problem. IOW I think the system is working well and is adequate under most conditions. But the air compressor and winch are more load than the alternator can supply during the time they are on, so the voltage is going to go below 12.0 for a bit.

It doesn't say it has been regeared, so with 44" tires & the 5.0L it has to be a dog to drive. I say that because I once test-drove a Bullnose Bronco with a 5.8L and 35" tires. I said NO before we got out of the parking lot as it lacked any low-end power. So I can only imagine what the smaller engine and 25% larger tires would do.

The vents are fairly easy to get out. There's a tab on them that snaps into the duct, so with a small screwdriver and a light you should be able to raise the tab slightly and slide that side out. Then do the other side. But those tabs are old and can be brittle. DAHIK. So be careful.

Jim is right. In fact, Ford even says in some of the documentation that it doesn't matter the direction of flow on the heater hoses. The owner's manual says your whole system holds 14 quarts, which is 3 1/2 gallons. But the engine holds a lot, so it is reasonable to think the radiator and heater core only hold 2 gallons together. And if you finished the fill through one of the heater hoses with the other connected you had to have gotten the system full.

Jeff - Jim's answer is far better than anything I would have responded with. But if you still have questions lay them on us. Jim - Thanks. But as for the voltage drop, remember that the resting voltage of the batteries is ~12.6V. So if you kick on a 150 amp load when the alternator can only put out 100 amps then the batteries are called on to provide current, and the system voltage will drop. Given that, I'm not surprised to see the voltage go down below 12.0V with the air compressor on. I don't really know how much current the alternator is able to generate at idle, nor how much the invertor pulls from the the system when the air compressor is on, so the 150A and 100A numbers are just a guess. But I hope to find out today.

If you mean the one called out in the illustration below, that goes to the recirculate door. It closes in Max A/C but not in Normal A/C, so if you put the control in Normal it shouldn't have a problem. The illustration below is from the 1985 EVTM, which you can find at Documentation/Electrical/EVTMs/1985 EVTM and then go to the A/C Heater section. It has more, including testing.

My father would have said "Without bad luck you'd have no luck at all!" Man, every time you turn around you are having problems. But I don't think you'll have RFI as the shell/cover of the coil should stop any radiation. And the vacuum connections look good, as does the wiring. So you are making progress, albeit somewhat slowly.

YES! And document it here!

I don't know what the movement should be, so can't comment. But at least you've found that you have fluid. Lets let someone else chime in as I'm not sure where to go next.

Wow, that jig worked out great! I like that. On the sway bar, I'd drive it first and see if you need it. You might not. Bummer on the rust. But I think you are right that you can put it back together and not have to change the shims. However, I would still check the mesh just to make sure.

Have you taken the boot out? Not saying you are like , but when I got Big Blue it shifted like yours. When I pulled the cap on the clutch master it looked like it had plenty of fluid, but that was just fluid someone had added on top of the boot. After pulling the boot and adding fluid to the reservoir itself it started shifting much better.

Defrost is the default when no vacuum is applied to the doors in the HVAC system. Typically the problem is where the vacuum line goes through the firewall. You can see that in the upper left of the illustration below on the line that is called 17543. The line seems to get brittle and then it breaks close to that grommet where it goes through the firewall. So check that out and let us know what you find.

It sounds like the clutch isn't fully releasing when hot. And that could be due to a clutch linkage problem, including the master and slave. Have you checked that the clutch master has enough fluid in it? There's a dust boot under the lid and you have to pull it out in order to see the level. And you shouldn't fill it up too much or it'll run out when you put the boot in.

Wow! You are way ahead of where I thought you are. So glad Espy is shifting well. In fact, better than ever. Firm shifts are perfect.

Yes, not being grounded would be a problem. Check that with your DVM with one lead to the frame and the other on the tank.

Excellent! Maybe you'll be driving Espy tomorrow?

I think you know what it is sending - 73 ohms. I just think you have the gauge in the wrong mode. When you say "Ford standard" you need to specify the year as in '87 everything changed. Empty is now something like 22 ohms and Full is 120 ohms or so.

I'm sure Gary's going to love me for this suggestion and the work it entails, but how difficult would it be to create a small database of tools and transactions? Potential elements in the table: Tool identifier Tool owner user ID Borrowed by user ID Borrowed date Returned date Then people could look and see if someone had been a borrower before. Of course there's still the problem of the first borrow. Also not sure how this table would get maintained. That can't be a free-for-all, because the dishonest borrower could just go in and update the Returned Date, when in fact they had not returned it. Might not be a feasible idea. But it might spawn some other more feasible ideas. This looks like a lot of WORK! (Quoting Maynard G.) Do we need to do that? I'd need someones, plural, to sign up to run the "tool crib". I was hoping we could keep this simple, but...

My opinion would be, it's at the discretion of the owner of the tool. If the tools cost hundreds of dollars, then I'd be a lot more particular about who I loaned it to. If it's some steel stock and a little welding, I'm more willing to risk that. One way to mitigate that risk would be to get the borrower to send you the money for the shipment before actually shipping it, but again that's all up to the lender. If someone joins up here and is asking for help, then I'd take a chance and help them with any of my (admittedly inexpensive) tools. I'd hate to tell someone they have to wait 6 months to borrow a needed tool because they haven't been on the forum long enough. Of course, that all works well in the lend-and-get-back scenario. If it's the lend-then-forward scenario, the original owner stands a lot more of a chance of never getting the tool back, and not being on control of who it is sent to. Bottom line, I think those types of restrictions would wind up unenforceable. Suppose I decided to take a chance and loan one of my tools to someone who did not meet the criteria? Would I then be punished somehow? I see it as self-enforcing. If I decide to loan it to someone and I don't get it back, well, I've paid the price. I would hope in that scenario I would then be allowed to post a warning about loaning tools to that person, however. Pete - I agree that it is up to the loaner. But I think it would be good to have guidelines so Joe Blow doesn't join just to borrow a tool and then vamoose. IOW, I don't want people to join just so they can borrow a tool. And I think some would. So I'm suggesting that we have a guideline to ward off those folks. Not that you couldn't loan to them, but I just want to set their expectations. Yes?

Bill - I'm pretty confident that those two parameters are the right ones as Clint confirmed that. Here are bits and pieces of exchanges we had: Gary: I'm trying to use the Low Voltage Idle Air Adder table to raise the idle RPM when VBAT gets below 12.0V and bring the idle back down when it gets above 13.0V. Clint: "as for the idle adder for heavy electrical loads. I would be using the AC input. anytime this input goes high it can add idle rpm. Gary: I was hoping to use the Low Voltage Idle AIr Adder table as I can ramp it up gently instead of it being a binary thing, like Idle increase for A/C is. Clint: Yes the AC would be more of a binary type fix. The function you are talking about for low voltage Idle Air Add should work too. Gary: On the low voltage adder, is it triggered by Charging System Lowest Voltage To Indicate Bad and Charging System Lowest Voltage To Indicate Good? Are those the thresholds? Clint: As for the charging system, Yes the "Charging System Lowest Voltage to Indicate Bad" and "Charging System Lowest Voltage to Indicate Good" are the two thresholds. As for the battery voltage and injector timing, there's a table for that:

An ohm meter works by sending a small current through the resistance and reading the voltage drop. R=E/I. But if you put it in a circuit with power the reading will be way wrong. WAY wrong. That's because there is already a voltage drop across the resistor before the meter sends its own current through. So you can't test resistance accurately in a powered circuit - at least not with a standard DVM. But if your gauge is reading empty then it may be reading correctly if you set it up for Empty at 73 ohms - which is what you have.

It depends on how dirty the coolant looks. If it isn't bad I wouldn't flush it. But if it is really dirty I would. Now the reason for not flushing is that sometimes there is some core sand in the block from the casting, and if you knock it loose it can damage the water pump. I've not had it happen, and I used to flush the system religiously, but I've heard of it happening. And now that the coolants are better and everyone is supposed to run coolant the systems don't normally get too dirty. But back in my day we just ran water and they really got grungy.

Chad - I think your thinking and your sender are backwards. The Bullnose senders have 10 ohms at Full and 73 ohms Empty. And how are you testing the "resistance on the yellow wire (tested directly behind the dash)"? IOW, where are you connecting the leads to the DVM, and what scale do you have it on? If you have it on the resistance scale and the negative lead to ground and the positive lead to the yellow wire you should get a wonky reading. That's because that is a powered circuit and you can't directly measure the resistance in a circuit under power. But, let's skip that issue for a moment. When you hook it all together and turn the key on what happens? I think the gauge should read empty.