i took my alternators down to the local autospark and got em tested. the one i had in there was fauty, and the other one i had was good. simple swap.

i also asked him how to hook it up, and he told me, 2 wires, one to the battery, one to ya charge light. all fixed. charge light no longer comes on now. yet to find out if its actually charging properly tho.

Quote:
no the engine doesnt have it the alternator does.
remove the stock 1200 regulator. you have to connect (with a piece of wire) two of the wires which went into the regulator. the two linked on mine are - the yellow wire and the red/white wire. leave the rest alone.* doing this should kill the warning lamp in your cabin. so long as you have a nice big wire from the alternator b+ to your battery+ you should be ok.
before you do this just make sure your alternator IS internally regulated.. u can usually see the unit on the back of the alternator, if u remove the small black box from the back u should see the brushes underneath.
have fun with L series power
*if anyone knows something useful for the remaining wires plz say

is it true that L series engines have internal regulators, so in this case the wiring i have is correct?

before i race off and get my alternator checked, i thought i'd post and check its hooked up correctly...

I have three wires, one wire goes straight to earth, one wire that goes to the charge light on the dash, and one goes to the positive side of the battery. Is this right? Do i need anymore??

thanks in advance
darren

I have most of my problems rectified, the dash works, other than the fuel gauge, which i think has a problem with the earth at the sender, and the indicators don't work still...

Also the alternator isn't charging. my charge light doesn't turn off (yay at least it works) and the battery goes flat while the engines running.

I can get my hands on a 1200 sedan harness (not sure which year) and also the dash wiring from a 1980 ute, thats everything on the back of the dash, up to the plugs that are right up against the firewall (the rest of this harness is in shreads)

Any ideas as to whether or not the differences are in the dash part of the wiring, in the engine bay side, or both?

OK, from what i can make out you have a real 1200 ute [up to '73] & you have a late instrument cluster as well as an L20b engine.
I kind of agree with TnPshow, if it's possible to get a pre loved harness from a later ute, or even a 1200 coupe, you will probably be in a better position to sort this one out.

In all honesty, I think you're better off starting from scratch with a new (second hand) loom. If you were in Adelaide I could drop by and have a squiz, but if you want to pay for a plane ticket to Perth...

It's really difficult to fault-find without seeing what's been done.

Have you got a standard wiring diagram? A mate who's versed in electrickery?

TC

Ok, so the L20b in engine is in my ute, and its running. I've also managed to score a later model ute dash, (the one with the three round gauges) and a tacho from a coupe dash. however, so far, i the only things i've managed to get to work on the dash is the temperature gauge, which comes on when i put the lights on, and goes to waaaaaayy past high, and the brake light, which comes on when i put the high beams on. Obviously somethings not right.

The indicators aren't working either yet.

The wiring harness was modified for another motor, and there is the possibility that the coil is playing up as i can't maintain constant revs. (It keeps missing at irregular intervals)

I'm really not a wiring person, so can anyone possibly point me in the right direction? Otherwise, i might see if i can find a standard wiring harness, and start from scratch.