Hello All, this is my first time posting here.

Ive searched the forums and cant really find any answers to my problem. Ive tried to do some troubleshooting myself but havent been able to fix the problem with my voltage ..

I have a 1973 Ford F250 Truck with the 390 engine, and 85,000 Original miles.
Well, I normally dont drive this truck, but occasionally I will start it up, or take it for a trip. So I dont leave a battery installed in the truck .. and when I went to hook it up, It was accidently hooked up backwards !!!!

I replaced the positive power wire that had fried because the truck wouldnt start. So then I drive it around and then it kills the battery. So I check the alternator and it doesnt work either. Then I repalced the alternator and the new ALt was charging at 16-17 Volts. So I put in a new Voltage regulator. Now the truck has been charging at between 14.5-15 Volts .. when I put the lights on the voltage goes up to about 15.5 or so. The volt meter in the dash flickers, at a low RPM it goes from the middle to the side, and at a higher RPM it will stay more steadily in the middle .. but the Lights are all flickering bright with the RPM.
Ive checked some of the other wires, they all seem to be okay with an OHM test, and Ive hooked jumper cables from the ground on the battery to the chassis, and engine to see if that helps any but nothing changes at all.

Does anybody have any ideas as to what is wrong with my electrical system ??? I dont drive the truck really, but when I do I would like to know that everything is working correctly and that I wont fry anything else or get stranded somewhere.

Please Help, Thank you

- Dan

 

See if you have any small ground wires from the firewall and or the frontend sheetmetal to the engine block that may have been burnt in two. Also check the regulator mounting again. Usually when the lights are flickering, making sure the regulator is grounded will fix it.