Over charging

[AMXguy]

After my Challenger sits a week or two and I start it the amp meter pegs , if you drive it long enough ( about 5 minutes ) then bring it back to an idle it will back off to normal, or if that fails unhook a battery cable and rehook it and all is fine. it over charges enough you can smell hot plastic so this isn't going to work. everything is new including a new black Mopar voltage regulator, I'm thinking that's what has to be the problem. any other ideas?

[MEK-Dangerfield]

There are 2 things I can think of...

The first you hit upon, that being the voltage regulator. If it is indeed fine, then make sure it has a good clean connection to the body of the car for grounding. The second thing is possibly you have something draining the battery, and it needs to re-charge as soon as you start the car.   


  Mike

[Chryco Psycho]

more likely to be a bad connection at the battery or a bad battery loading the charging circuits

[Aussie Challenger]

  Could be high resistance in the amp guage or the firewall connector, especially as you said you can smell hot plastic.   

[AMXguy]

I'll check the ground on the regulator, I have new battery, cables and rebuilt gauges but we all know new doesn't mean perfect.  the wire going through the amp meter to the battery gets warm when it's over charging that's where the smell comes from. since you can pull a cable off with the car runnning, hook it back up and everything is fine from then on I'm thinking it has to be in a control somewhere ? I'll try the regulator ground and if that doesn't help I'll stick a different regulator on and see what that does.

[MEK-Dangerfield]

I'll check the ground on the regulator, I have new battery, cables and rebuilt gauges but we all know new doesn't mean perfect.  the wire going through the amp meter to the battery gets warm when it's over charging that's where the smell comes from. since you can pull a cable off with the car runnning, hook it back up and everything is fine from then on I'm thinking it has to be in a control somewhere ? I'll try the regulator ground and if that doesn't help I'll stick a different regulator on and see what that does.

It is indeed possible to buy a bad regulator. For what it's worth, even with a full charge on my battery, my ampmeter goes quite high when I first start the car. In less than a minute though, it will return to a slightly above the centerline charge.

[ntstlgl1970]

Check grounds for voltage drops with a DVOM at the regulator, engine block and alternator case. Do the same for the charge circuit from the alt lug to the positive battery post. eliminate sections of the circuit 1 by 1. Should be less than .1v DC drop per connection. The only plastic around there is the bulkhead connector at the firewall which is a common problem area. Heat means too much resistance (voltage drops) somewhere. Find it.

[Aussie Challenger]

 

For what it's worth, even with a full charge on my battery, my ampmeter goes quite high when I first start the car. In less than a minute though, it will return to a slightly above the centerline charge.

  When starting the battery is temporarily discharged and needs topping up.   

[rabarrett]

I think, as was stated previously, I think a bad connection is the issue. I would, as suggested use a multimeter on the voltage setting, and look for a voltage drop, especially to ground. You might even try grounding both the alternator and the regulator together, to the same ground. If this eliminates the problem, a ground is the issue. The plastic smell could be that the current necessary to charge the battery going through the ammeter is heating the connections. This might be the result of normal operation and the current necessary to charge a partially discharged battery is more than the factory connections can handle, especially with the time involved to recharge it. You might try a battery tender or trickle charger on the battery. This would keep the battery fully charged, and allow further testong of the "issue" as well. Let me know...

[wally426ci]

I used to blow through Advanced cheapy regulators left & right. If you rev'd it to high when it started, it would automatically blow it! I put in one of the chrysler ones that look stock and its been fine ever since. Also could be an alternator. Mine went one time while i was driving, all the lights got REALLY bright  so i unplugged it and drove home.