Car is running just off the battery

[cdlewis]

I hope that someone can help point me in the right direction with my CV8 mark 2 that is running just off the battery-it isn't being re-charged at all once it is fired up.

It starts 1st time everytime but the ammeter is always sat in the middle position and it never moves into the positive and eventually moves into the negative and after approx 40-50 minutes of idling, the car just dies as the battery is flat and it won't restart-when I charge the battery overnight, it will restart 1st time the following day. The last 2 drives I made locally resulted in the car dying on me before I had got back home.

Just to give some history,I have fitted a new starter motor and battery approx 18 months ago and a new alternator and regulator in September last year -I am hoping that it is a simple and quick fix but really would appreciate any advice/guidance here, as I don't know where to start.

Many thanks,
Andrew Lewis in Devon.

[AH1951]

You say you fitted a new alternator and regulator last September.

I think that's a rather specialist skill so I would get an auto electrician to look at the car.
Be careful of trying to do anything more yourself if this is something you are not familiar with.
You don't want it going up in smoke!

[mojo]

There's no substitute (of course) for someone with a multimeter who knows what they are doing. But if I had to take a wild guess, mine would be that the new regulator has failed - the modern ones do not have a good reputation.

[Grant]

I 2nd the regulator will be your problem too, those old big Alternators don't normally give up the ghost

[David Davies]

A small innocuous looking item, the regulator is pretty important and certainly can cause havoc if faulty or if it is incorrectly fitted. Many years ago I had driven back the S—Type from a certain very well known garage in London, having had a variety of things done including some electrical work. Normally I would have put the Jensen straight in the garage but instead left it outside for half an hour planning do something. When I came back out smoke was coming out of the bulkhead end of the bonnet. I dived for the battery isolator in the passenger’s footwell and it gradually lessened. If I had put the car in the garage a fire could have taken hold without me knowing - however I always turn off the battery isolator switch to avoid exactly that. A very important thing to have on any classic car. So yes a faulty voltage regulator really can make a car go up in smoke!

A very good itinerant classic car auto electrician, who worked for most of the local classic car businesses, Phil James, had it sorted out very quickly. Not sure if he is still in business but an extremely useful guy to know.

[cdlewis]

Many thanks to everyone who has responded to my plea for help/guidance, I will let you all know how I get on.

Happy Motoring if the weather is kind,
many thanks,
Andrew.

[David Davies]

In case anyone needs a classic auto electrician, I see that Phil James is still in business under classiccar-electrician.co.uk with a good description and photos of his very wide ranging work. He used to work largely in Berkshire but having moved to the south west he now mainly covers Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. He worked on a few of my cars over the years including taking out the steering column on my former Riley RME and replacing all the botched wiring down the tube. An absolute devil of a job, did not swear once and was very reasonable. And he comes to you.