What you have is a common problem people have when they swap in a cluster that does not have an alternator warning light. The fix is to find the green/red stripe wire on one of the cluster connectors. Cut it and splice it to the gray/yellow stripe keyed power wire. Some people are more comfortable connecting the wires through a 500 ohm resister, rather that a direct connection. I personally am not convinced it makes any difference.
If you find the green/red wire on pin 4, the gray/yellow wire will be on pin 6. If you find the green/red wire on pin 10, the gray/yellow wire will be on pin 11.
Hmmm, im really impressed with how knowledgeable you are. So just add a resistor to bridge green/red stripe wire AND gray/yellowstripe wire.
And, how have I been driving the car like this for 3 years? I might also check my crimp connections for the 3G alt. wiring.
Depends what you like. I prefer the difference and better ride of the Cougar/Tbirds. Every jackass can have a Mustang, it takes a little more work to have one of our cars. I just like the lines and style of our cars.
But hey, I was a Cougar guy from the start. First car 81 XR7, 85 5.0 LS was my next car. Now have what I always wanted as a young man 88 Cougar 5.0
I would agree, every jackass can have a mustang. Also Ive always thought of fox mustangs as kinda redneck-y
Voltage on the green wire is required to signal the voltage regulator to turn on the alternator.
I am pretty sure the stock 86 5.0L had a alternator warning light on the cluster. The keyed voltage for the green wire to the regulator comes through the warning light bulb and it's parallel resister. Was the cluster replaced with a stock 86 cluster or something else? Did you do the job?
How come the problem is just showing up now if it started with the cluster change? If you don't drive it much, you could have been running on the battery. Or, some times these alternators can turn themselves on if they have enough residual magnetism and you rev them up high enough.
the cluster came from a similar year lincoln i think. But again, the cluster was replaced 3 years ago. Yes i installed it, I didnt trust anyone else to take it apart and not break the 30yr old plastic. And I do usually drive the tbird, just havent recently, have had 2 brake issues in the last several months. And I have a truck, so i never HAVE to fix the tbird.
Does the red battery light turn on? This is the wire that turn on the alternator. There should be a resistor on that wire somewhere in case the light bulb burns out. You essentially bypassed the bulb by putting in led. Leds are light emitting diodes, they stop power from flowing one direction. Could be as simple as an led being installed backwards. Try a regular 194 bulb.
So with the key on, the red E-brake light comes on, as well as the red "fasten seatbelt" light. I should clarify: when I put in the LED 194 bulbs, I only put them behind the 3 main modules, the green digital displays in the cluster
originally 1986 tbird elan 5.0, AOD, this cluster was replaced years ago cuz the original one from 86 failed. Ive also put LED 914 bulbs in said cluster to help with illumination
I havent messed with the wiring since last fall. So thats why I thought it was weird that it is acting up NOW.
Mine is wired like this. I followed an install video from LateModelResto. The heavy duty red wire goes to the postive battery terminal.
So yes, I have voltage at the B+ terminal with the car off. With the car on, not running, voltage gauge reads low and flashes at me. [full digital cluster] Starting the engine, voltage gauge still reads low, flashes at me
UPDATE: Put in a brand new optima battery. the voltage gauge still reads low. with the car running i read 11.99 volts across the terminals and with the car off, i read 12.5volts. Any ideas? my alternator has been tested at advance once: passed. and tested at autozone: passed.
Hey all, So i have a 5.0, AOD, 7.5in rear tbird. Not exactly fast by any means. I looked into doing 8.8 TC rear swap, T5 swap, 5.0 HO swap. I know its all pretty easy to do. But at what point does it become easier to just buy a cheap mustang foxbody off craigslist? Most fox mustangs i see already have sfc's, cam, heads, and other things.
yeah, ive looked at both interstate and optima. But ive heard that optimas really need that special charger, whereas for the time being my only charger is a battery tender. so that puts out like 1.5amps. trickle charger
I cleaned the contacts with warm water and a wire brush. Got it all really clean. Yesterday i checked and I have continuity, a couple ohms of resisitance, from the "hot" post of the alternator wiring to the positive lead going to the battery. Got everything tested again today at different shops. Alternator passed again. Battery measured bad at auto zone, nearly bad at advance, and just barely good at sear's. So i think im getting a new battery. The current one is 4 yrs old and just before all this i left the dome light on over the weekend. So i think i killed it :(
