Topic: 1983 toyota truck not charging

[Dr.Maxwe001]

I resently bought a 1983 wiring harness to replace the one I had in my 1980 truck  now I have the harness in and the truck will fire over however I can not get the brand new alti. to charge the bat. I have gotten a fsm from the toyota dealership and i have followed EVERY wire and hooked everything up as I was told to I have put a meter on my alti as well as the wire and I am not getting output any ideas ?      

[Wermz84]

so, you've put a meter direclty on to your alt and it shows nothing?     Brand new or rebuilt?   perhaps bad?     Hmm what else? 

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

the Alti is putting out the correct amount of voltage I put a meter on it and its reading just fine so I know its GOTA be some where in the wiring harness

[YotaJosh]

Did you buy the alternator for an 80 or 83 truck?

When I put my 79 20R in an 82 cab, the alt. and regulator plugs were different between the years, and I ended up getting an alternator and regulator for an 82.

When you buy the new alternator, be sure to know the plug markings (LEF, FEN, etc.) and how many wires go to your regulator (5 or 6). Sometimes the plug color (green or black) is helpful to know. It's also wise to go ahead and get a new regulator as well.

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

I bought the alti. for a 1983  it has a green plug on the back so this lets me know that I have a external regulator I just talked to Jon82toy  @ marlin and he said that if I dont have the charge light on in the cab then I will not get the regulator to kick on and tell the alti. to charge. he also told me there would be a relay under the dash either on the drivers side or the passenger side that has to be pluged up inorder for the charge light to come on witch tells the external regulator to make the alternator charge so there for I am going to need to look under the dash and see if I can find that (relay that is prolly unhooked) that causes the charge light to kick on

[Caboose]

did u check the voltage reg?  that was my problem with my 81.

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

I pluged up the regulator and I tested the batt to see if it was charging but for some reason it wasnt      

how do you check a extrernal voltage regulator  and what all wires do you have going to that plug on the drivers side fenderwell mine is a 1983 sr5 model

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

I will try to get pict of the plug and the wires on the regulator as well as the truck in the daylight hours

[THE ROCK]

there is a fuse in the fuse box that is part of the charging system..its in the FSM..I blew my fuse while performing electrical mods, I thought that I had toasted my alternator! changed fuse, all good!   that fuse is in the FSM wiring diagram in the fuse box-20 amp if I remember..verify the correct amperage!

[Blingn]

going to sound crazy but i changed alt and reg twice, finally chaged the fuses in the fuse block and it started charging. 

 

there is a fuse in the fuse box that is part of the charging system..its in the FSM..I blew my fuse while performing electrical mods, I thought that I had toasted my alternator! changed fuse, all good!   that fuse is in the FSM wiring diagram in the fuse box-20 amp if I remember..verify the correct amperage!

  I was not quick enough

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

ok I have pictures of what my harness looks like in this area

1983 harness side plug


harness side wires colors


voltage regulator side plug


both plugs



harness wires


regulator side wires


volt meter

[GJToyotabug]

uhh why dont the colors match up???

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

hell if I know man thats one of the problems i got 

[GJToyotabug]

huh weird

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

I was given these pict as well from Elven

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x56/elven112/12345.jpg


http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x56/elven112/123.jpg

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x56/elven112/1234.jpg

[Elven]

Mine were weird and didn't match either from the actual part or online and paper manuals....I just traced them down from the plug and compared to manual to their purpose and location...I didn't use the plugs because I was missing one of the harness side ones...I think my vr has been replaced before so I think aftermarket vr has different colors.....

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

here is my V R

[Marlin]

It was great talking to you today.

Hope my advice helped you out.

Remember, all 81 to 83 4x4's had a 55 amp alternator that must use an external IC regulator. These alternators must have a black female plug on the back of the alternator and the proper matching wiring harness. 79 to 80 4x4's, and 79 to 83 2wd's had a 40 amp alternator and a green female plug with an external mechanical voltage regulator.

Good luck and keep us posted.....

Marlin

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

It sure did help  I contacted Glen and he is going to send me the correct plug that goes with this harness it will have the black female plug on the back and then I can swap out my alternator for a 55 amp instead of the 2wd I have  

[Marlin]

Any luck on locating the charge light relay?
It has a grey cover. Without it installed, it still will not charge.

Marlin

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

I havent put my fingers on it just yet however I am fishing the ones that it cant be and I am slowly tracing it down I found the buzzer relay and took it out so it wont be goin off all the time and I have also re-found the flasher relay and the heater blower relay I removed the glove box and I havent seen anythng that looks out of place (not hooked up) however if it is in there and I know it is then I will find it  If I have to pull the dash all the way back out I am gona find it.

[kneedownnate]

79 to 80 4x4's had a 40 amp alternator and a green female plug with an external mechanical voltage regulator.

Interesting.  I think my 80 4by has something like a 45-50 amp alt, but it was originally an alaska truck.  It also came with a neat little sticker under the hood that says  "non catylist" 

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

what we have learned so far has now been able to come into light as we will all see in this msg.

I recently spoke with Marlin and Jon82toy on the phone about my 1st gen truck not charging well I found out that I have the wrong alti. on there I had the GREEN ALTERNATOR that you will see in this picture here.



this is the plug style for the GREEN ALTERNATOR


These alternators are used on trucks with the years of 1979-to 1983 4x2's these alternators only put out 40 amps

HOWEVER the other alternator that Toyota used in the 1st. Gen trucks had a BLACK ALTERNATOR as seen in this picture here.



This is the plug style for the BLACK ALTERNATOR


These alternators are used on trucks with the years of 1981 to 1983 4x4's these alternators put out 55 amps
BOTH OF THESE ALTERNATORS USE A EXTERNAL REGULATOR THAT GOES WITH THERE COLOR CODED PLUG ON THE BACK OF THE ALTERNATOR

However the both look the same from the front and sides other than the green or black stripe and the plug they are very diffrent and should not be used in any other year trucks that they were made for or else they will not do the job they were intended to do. I have not installed the relay in the harness that has the "open circut" that is keeping the alternator, charge light, and external voltage regulator from working correctly due to the fact that I had to order this from Toyota and it has not come in at this time I will have a part number on this as soon as It comes available to me.

[79coyotefrg]

the black "short harness" is in the mail, you should have it monday

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

OK lets take a moment to reflect on what we/I  have learned so far

Remember, all 81 to 83 4x4's had a 55 amp alternator that must use an external IC regulator. These alternators must have a black female plug on the back of the alternator and the proper matching wiring harness. 79 to 80 4x4's, and 79 to 83 2wd's had a 40 amp alternator and a green female plug with an external mechanical voltage regulator.


this is what the plug looks like for the BLACK PLUG STYLE ALTINATOR





Even though you have the truck correctly wired IT WILL NOT CHARGE WITH OUT A CHARGE LIGHT RELAY that looks like this.



I have spoken to Marlin also with Jon at Marlin Crawler and from what we three have determined is that the CHARGE LIGHT RELAY is either located on the DRIVERS SIDE or the PASSEGERS SIDE mine along with Jon82toy's was on the passenger side just before it exited into the engine bay area it is a funny shaped plug. I had it incorrectly labled. Marlins however was on the drivers side. Now I am not the one to say who's is right and who's is wrong. However according to the fsm it is suppose to be located on the DRIVERS SIDE. once this relay is plugged in YOUR CHARGE LIGHT WILL BECOME ACTIVE.

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

     its charging  its amazing what will happen when you have all the correct things in place

OK on a more serious note the volt meter says its charging the battery at 14.8 I feel as if thats kinda high but it could be cause the battery isn't FULLY charged however I will check it some more to see if i can get to come down a little bit I would like to see a number around minimum 13.5 - 14.5 maximum

[flatbedtoy]

 I'd definatly say it's the charge lamp relay, I was going through one about every six mos in my 82 truck (kept getting replacements from the junkyard). I ended up bypassing the relay with a wire coming off the back of the alternator directly to the battery. Never had problem again.

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

how would bypassing the relay help with over charging  when you got to have the relay for the lamp and the alti. to work as well or else its a open circut read up top what marlin wrote .

[79coyotefrg]

i have to pull my dash out and fix a ground problem so i'll see where mine is for future reference

[Dr.Maxwe001 [OP]]

here is the part number for the relay for anyones needed information

27790-35010 

if I have any other information on this I will pass it along as well