truck won't charge

[tclark]

Boy it was a hard week so far and it ain't over yet. This morning I was driving and noticed my alternator wasn't charging. It was 6:00 a.m and I was already 70 miles from home so I turned around went back. Lucky I never shut it off because with all the lights and heater going full blast it drained the battery by the time I got back home. I changed the alternator to a spare I had that I know is good and no change. I was reading the past posts here and suspect it could be the crank sensor, a module on the fender wall or the pcm... not sure what to replace next though and was hoping for some advice.... I have the spare parts on a spare truck. Its a 93' with automatic transmission. Tonight it's going to start snowing they say up to 8" and I sure wish I could figure it out tomorrow... Monday supposed to be a high of -5 low of -25 knowing where I live it will probably be colder. Even in the shop not a pleasant day to work on it. Need it going though. I got some photos here showing how someone has rigged the truck up in the past with an external voltage regulator on the fender wall? one wire comes from the relay on drivers side then to the alternator. I have a spare crank sensor and all the other parts including p c m where should I start looking and what should I check ?? also a pic of a bear I found in a hole last week.

 

[B.G. Smith]

Will try to help. With the external regulator I don't think the PCM or crank sensor comes into play. I'm guessing the relay you found is used to turn the regulator/alternator on. Also think the three wires on the regulator are battery, alternator field and the other one comes from the relay. and closes a set of contacts in the regulartor to activate the field circuit . If you have a meter, check the wires, one should be 12v all the time, one goes to the alternator field and the other should have 12v with the ignition switch on. bg

 

[tclark]

Thanks B.G. Smith that is exactly what I needed to know, got it going now!