Twisted

A few weeks ago, I had a strange thing happen after running a compression test on one cylinder (don't ask). While I was cranking the motor, running the test, I at one point thought I heard some arcing going on under the hood. I realized that I probably should have disabled my coil, rather than just unplugging the coil wire from my dizzy cap. That was dumb. At any rate, ever since I did that, my stock voltmeter has been reading a tad higher at all times. Also, sometimes when I first start the car, my Autometer gauge will read .5 volts higher than normal--it appears to be at almost 15 volts. While the Autometer gauge is reading higher than normal, the stock gauge is also reflecting a higher than normal voltage. Other than this, everything is working normally. It doesn't do it everytime I start the car, and it only lasts for a short time. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening...or at least what species of moron I am?

My first thought was that I damaged my voltage regulator. I sure hope not.

redneckstang

your alt. will put out about 14.6 or 14.7 volts normally. try using a hand held voltmeter to check your alt. i do not think that what you're seeing is anything to be alarmed about

nitrous_bob

the arcing you heard was the coil wire firing to ground, you can't hurt anything from that

it's a coincidence your seeing

Twisted

Thanks fellas. That's what I wanted to hear. I was hoping that it was just a coincidence. I first noticed the high voltage on the Autometer gauge after our first cold night (probably the coldest night in recent Cali. history). It was in the 30s. Even though the car was in the garage, it was probably colder than it had ever been in its life. Makes sense to me.