85 K10 Stepside, Not charging?

[KY..Rob]

Josh..It's all of the above..You can jump it and it will run and idle fine. when you take off driving it will last about half an hour and then the electrical system goes Bonkers. The Auto Meter Tach that was in it, would just start spinning and the shift light would start flashing, the wipers quit, the head lights quit. But she will continue to run until you turn her off and then she won't start back up.

The "PO" had wired a bunch of stuff up in her and cut loose a bunch of the factory wiring and connectors, the only gages in the truck were aftermarket Tach, Oil, and Temp gages.

Rob..

[VileZambonie]

Put a jumper wire to the field terminal from B+ and see if it charges

[joesgarage71]

 Lighting
  Check Grounds
Headlight switch ground
Each corner of the truck should have a ground, bolted to the body. by the headlights in the front and by the tailights in the rear.
Engine should have ground starps to the frame.
The bed and cab should have ground straps to the frame underneath, while your under there check the ground wire for the gas gauge.
Clean them good and wipe some of that electrical grease on them and tighten it.

U best be looking at the diagrams in the tech section Chris has provided It will show everything you need to know. Don't let it get to ya
 Steve

[KY..Rob]

Thanks Vile..Thanks Joe..I will give it a go tomorrow, and hopefully get this solved and move on to the good stuff.

I'll let you know what happens.

Rob..

[KY..Rob]

Well I think I have the charging problem solved..(Fingers Crossed)..I had a stripped bolt in the alternator bracket, and a couple bad splices on the pigtail. I took and drilled out the hole in the alternator and put a little bigger bolt through, with a nut and lock washer.

I'm still trying to get the factory gages working again. I guess I need to by the factory oil sending unit and temp sensor, I think these will come with the connectors I need, and then start putting different wires to them and see if they come on. I'm not finding the colors under the hood that are listed on all the wiring diagrams.

Rob..

[KY..Rob]

Well I got the switches today, Didn't have a chance to put them on yet. But will tomorrow, and we'll see where it goes from there.

Rob..

[werewolfx13]

my '84 gmc lights acted real bizarre once..I had eliminated the last body ground (by mistake), and that was the sole cause. Try running a new wire from the neg post of the battery to one of the bolts (about a 3/8" bolt, 5/8" or 9/16" head i think) on the core support. Cheap and easy to try.

[KY..Rob]

werewolfx13 ..Your right on the money! Check out my post(Lights) it's all about the grounding"..But I have all the lights working now, Brighter than ever. My charging problem is fixed I believe. Now it's onto interior lights..And then back under the hood to fix the wiper washer fluid.

Rob..

[joesgarage71]

werewolfx13 ..Your right on the money! Check out my post(Lights) it's all about the grounding"..But I have all the lights working now, Brighter than ever. My charging problem is fixed I believe. Now it's onto interior lights..And then back under the hood to fix the wiper washer fluid.

Rob..

Yea life is good!