On Tuesday of last week, this 1965 Buick Skylark was driven through the semi-rural areas surrounding an average mid-sized, midwestern city. The owner enjoyed himself, wife by his side, the Buick’s engine burbling contentedly. On Wednesday, however, the same man turned the key of said Skylark, finding nothing but silence where heretofore was noise, darkness where there once was light. Had the Skylark been abducted by aliens? Substituted for another Buick? Or was there something more sinister going on? Find out next on Curbside Case Study.
This program is about unsolved mysteries. Whenever possible, the actual family members and police officials have participated in recreating the events. What you are about to see is not a news broadcast. ***Insert ominous music here***
Wait…wrong program. With that being said, if you have no business under the hood of an automobile nor any concept of electrical diagnosis, don’t try this at home. Neither the author nor this website takes any responsibility for your ineptitude. The following is a reenactment of actual events.
As previously mentioned, turning the Skylark’s ignition key produced no expected outcomes, no cranking, no clicking, no charging system dashboard light, no manifestation of life in any of its forms. After a moment of confusion, much hand wringing, and gentle mourning, the Skylark’s owner got down to the business of diagnosing his no-start condition. First, he checked the interior lighting to rule out a problem with the ignition switch: It was as dim as the last rays of a prairie sunset. He knew the battery was dead, stone dead.
The battery was only five years old. The Skylark’s owner was puzzled by the early demise of his parts store battery, but his years as a mechanical investigator made him suspicious. Upon hooking up his digital multimeter and selecting DC voltage on its dial, he found a mere five volts remaining in what was, until recently, a battery in the prime of life. Was this death by natural causes, or was it murder?
After hooking up the 10 amp charger to the battery for a quick 20-minute resuscitation, the owner performed a simple parasitic draw test using a test light. By disconnecting the negative terminal of the battery, and connecting the test light between the two, he found that the light glowed brightly. There was a parasite in the system, a parasitic draw to be exact, and that test light was a snitch. Several feet away, a guilty party grew very nervous.
The owner thought back to the previous autumn, when an old mechanical voltage regulator had attempted to murder, by overcharging, the exact same battery that was now in such grave danger. When the owner replaced it with a solid-state regulator he kept as a spare in the garage, little could he have known that the two parts were complicit. How could they have been caught? They never even came in contact with one another; it was the perfect crime, but the accomplice got greedy. He tried to kill the battery in one night, through an internal short.
The mechanical regulator was last heard cursing its one-time friend as the owner set them side by side for the final test. The connector was swapped between the two, and the test light told its tale: no light, no short. The solid state regulator was guilty. In court, the mechanical regulator was heard shouting, “Nobody would have known! I was killing him slowly! They would have thought it was natural causes!” The solid state regulator was executed by garbage bag, while the mechanical regulator, guilty of attempted murder, was placed in lifetime solitary confinement as an emergency spare.
But the battery was not yet out of danger. The replacement Duralast regulator that the owner purchased at the local parts store was far from innocent. Upon installing it, the owner discovered that the car’s electrical connector did not securely attach to the new regulator, and the alternator was now only charging at 13 volts at idle, 14 volts as the engine sped up. The owner searched for a steady 13.8-14.5 volts at all speeds. How did he know the alternator wasn’t bad? As a final humiliating punishment before their fates were sealed, he used the guilty regulators to test charging voltage. The alternator was found not guilty.
Desperate, the owner/investigator visited the website of Summit Racing in Ohio and ordered a “Tuff Stuff” solid state regulator for a mere $18 plus shipping. Despite the “creative” spelling of the regulator’s manufacturer, the owner looked forward to better days with his beloved Skylark, prodded gently by good reviews on the Summit website.
After the installation of the “Tuff Stuff” regulator, the owner observed a charging voltage of 14.54 volts: a little high, but the battery was slightly undercharged by the attempt on its life. The owner bravely took the car on another long, rural jaunt.
Upon his return, the owner used his Power Probe III to verify that the regulator was operating as it should. It was.
The dial showed 14.1 volts at all speeds with a warm engine. There was no parasitic draw. This mystery is solved, for now.
As Robert Stack might have said on Unsolved Mysteries, “For every mystery, there is someone, somewhere, who knows the truth. Perhaps that someone is watching. Perhaps… it’s you.”
Luckily for this Skylark, someone was watching. And he knew the truth.
Epilogue from owner, who finds it appropriate to change to first-person narration: Whenever I find a problem that I don’t often deal with, I find it helpful to pull out the shop manual for the offending automobile.
Therein, I read and reread the section that explains the function of the guilty system until I understand all possible culprits. In this case, I started with the voltage regulator because I’ve had these problems before and it was the last electrical part I had replaced. If that wouldn’t have been the problem, I would have started pulling fuses first, and working my way through every circuit until my test light went out (while I was performing the parasitic draw test).
I only referenced the shop manual afterward to brush up (pun) on my 1960s General Motors charging systems.
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Fun story and nice old care.
Glad it was an easy fix Aaron. Assuming it still has points, would you consider a Pertronix or HEI for that car?
I’ve swapped the Skylark over to Pertronix, but only because of spotty quality issues with new sets of points. Right now, I’m running a Pertronix in three cars, points in two, an HEI in one, and a Chrysler electronic in one, so I have a little bit of everything.
Re: spotty quality issues with new set of points – Yes, especially electrical parts.
Great story. You might acquaint yourself with Old Car Parts Northwest, who have multiple giant warehouses full of old-stock parts made in first-world countries and branded with recognisable names and, um, correctly-spelled words. Tiny fraction is up on their site; I have good luck with phone calls. And if you’re ever near Seattle, make a field trip; the place is astounding!
Thanks! I’ll have to check them out; the quality of new parts is getting disappointing.
Yeah the guy that runs OCPN is a great guy, he told me a few stories of the older days when he could still find the parts stores that closed their doors one day and were left that way for a decade or more.
Some of the stuff he has I don’t know how he’ll ever sell them. The last time I was there he had 20+ crank kits, ie a turned crank and matching bearings, for the Pinto 2.3.
Interesting web site as it only partially loads. Drop down menu is blank. Home page has pictures but no captions at all for me.
Wow, cloth seats? I had assumed that your Skylark had vinyl as our 64 Cutlass did.
I hate charging systems. Well, I don’t hate them when they are working the way they are supposed to, but I hate trying to track down problems. Well done, sir.
I don’t know the answer, but wonder if The Dirty Dart (with its sensitive ammeter) might have given you a little heads-up that something was amiss in your charging system?
Someone in the past had the seats recovered, but the Skylark originally had cloth and vinyl seat covers.
The Dart probably would have let me know what was going on…I imagine the ammeter would have read low with the key on and the engine off.
It would have showed a discharge greater than usual ignition draw, a WTF moment.
I remember adjusting those old mechanical voltage regulators. On some, you turned a screw, on others you bent a contact leaf. Never did feel good doing that, it seemed imprecise.
Way back in the early days of eBay, when it was reasonable, I bought six OEM US made Motorcraft Electronic Regulators for $15-20. Of course I only had two Fords at the time so I needed to go out and buy two more for the extra regulators. I replaced the internals of the original Ford points style with the electronic components and bolted them in. Steadier charging of the battery and and less headlight fluctuation now. Have two left as spares or I need to get two more Fords.
Come to think of it, I haven’t checked the charging voltage in my Mustang or T-Bird for quite a while. They both have solid-state regulators as well.
The old GM mechanical regulators were known to stick and cause an engine off drain, and continue to properly work when running, but they typically illuminated the charging light, if present, making them easier to track down. Can’t say I’ve ever seen an electronic one cause an engine off drain.
Speaking of batteries and their age, I noticed yesterday that my pickup will be the recipient of a new battery this year. Not because it has ever failed to do its job, despite the fact that it can sit for months at a time. No the reason is I looked at its date code and it just turned 8. While the truck does have a manual transmission, there is no way I could ever push it, hop in and pop the clutch like I did with my small cars back in the day.
Yes there are a set of good jumper cables in the truck, but those are there for helping others.
Yep…weird stuff, but I checked it several times and it caused a drain every time. The battery in my Corvair is 10 years old this year…I haven’t tried to start that car yet this spring, so we’ll see if it will still do the job. I think I’ll take my jump pack just in case it doesn’t.
The battery in my 91 626 died just last month. Of course it was helped along by a slightly ajar door. Tried cardioversion several times but had to let it go in it’s sleep. Turns out it was 9 years old which in human years who knows how old that is. The new transplant is working just fine.
Five year old battery still going strong? I just had a battery die in a car bought brand-new three years ago (exactly one month after the warranty ran out).
OTOH, maybe I’m expecting too much from an FCA product. Despite some safeguards (like left-on headlights and interior lights automatically timing out), seems like there are plenty of background power drains to kill a battery in new vehicles (particularly if the battery is of the lowest possible quality).
The drains in modern cars can be significant. You’ll find in the fuse box of some pre FCA Chryslers a fuse that has a yellow handle snapped on to it. In the owner’s manual you’ll see instruction to remove that fuse if you won’t be using the car for something like 2 weeks.
And yeah many cars ship with a lowest bidder battery with a low plate count for the case size. Also they may only charge the battery to say 80% to save fuel. This is why with many modern cars when you replace the battery you should reset the battery age in the computer.
I just have to say the 1964-65 Skylarks have a timeless beauty. I rank the 65 somewhat higher because of the “wall to wall” taillights, which I believe along with the Electra of the same year, became the first such use in cars.
Also, I remember that the 65 has a raised center section of the front bumper, while the 64 has a dropped section.
I’ll agree that I prefer the ’65 over the ’64, and it’s not just bias either…I always have. The only real weak point to me, aside from usual ’60s idioms that aren’t really weak points, such as a long rear overhang, is the parking lights. They look too large and tacked on, making the ends of the bumper look a little heavy. Other than that, I’ve always thought box Skylarks were clean. It was really a no-brainer when I bought it.
I was never much of a Buick guy, but a BIG exception was always the 65 Skylark Gran Sport. 401 nailhead, AT, full power, AC, those Buick wheels with redlines. A beautiful car!
Nice job and car! I installed not one, but two internally regulated GM style CS130 alternators on the 302 in my ’83 Ford Ranger. 4 gauge output cables directly to the battery. Overkill? Maybe, but I have a combined 400w of lighting, electric fan big stereo amp, etc. The stock alternator in ’83 was the same Autolite/Motorcraft unit used by Ford since ’65 when they switched to alts but it did have a electronic external regulator. I now have 14.41V at idle, 13.2 with EVERYTHING on at idle.
where was the part manufactured ? my guess china
Been there, my pet car came with a Prince of darkness dynamo system I went thru it all when reassembling the car and everything worked, I happened upon a Singer gauge set at a vintage parts sale and installed that giving me an oil pressure gauge and ammeter along with coolant temp, on starting after the starter motor has sucked the battery down the ammeter shows a healthy charge slowly dropping back when the battery regains health when it stopped showing that I installed an alternator from a later model Hillman bypassing the regulator but I got a clever friend to put the ammeter back in the circuit, its like having that testing tool in the car the gauge flicks up and down when the indicators are used showing they work when the engine is off any parasitic draw will show up as a discharge when the key is switched on, I harvested a 500CCA battery from the Nissan I flicked a while back so plenty of starting voltage on tap, And I have a spare alternator should the worst happen and jumper leads or the armstrong starting handle car maker Rootes included in the toolkit.
I didn’t read all the comments, and actually not every word of the post, so apologies if it’s been covered.
But Aaron65, you could mention to said mechanic that with a DN charging system a good ground between generator case and regulator is critical. Ditto the #3 regulator lead and battery + terminal. Without these the system will not accurately sense system voltage and may overcharge. A voltage drop test is ideal, but at least a good old fashioned inspection should do.
Each division had their own crummy way of connecting #3 to battery voltage – none seemed ideal.
What a fun read Aaron! I used to love watching Unsolved Mystery’s. The joys of the old mechanical voltage regulators. Jim brings up a good point re the ground. I have actually did the same thing to my Torino. Speaking of which, in it’s 48 years in our family, the voltage regular has been the least reliable component. It actually failed on dad within days of buying the car. I switched it to a solid state regulator about 15 years ago and it has been good ever since. Last year I though it had failed when I noticed the ammeter not charging, but it turned out one of the terminals was not longer making good contact, so it was an easy 5 minute fix.
Out of curiosity, do you use battery maintainers on your old car batteries? This has made a big difference in extending my battery life for my old cars.
No battery tenders at all…over the winter, I pull at least the negative cable and that’s it! Maybe I’ve been lucky, but I also tend to drive around for a while once I start an engine, so there isn’t a bunch of cranking on a low charge or anything.
My Mother in law ended up draining her Mustang’s battery this winter. She’d go out a start it up every couple of weeks, but she’d only run it for a couple of minutes.
I usually put a charger/maintainer on vehicles that have been sitting for a while, so yeah every vehicle has had their time on one recently….
I’ve had my ’65 Chrysler out 3 times this Spring and had to jump it each time.
I disconnect the negative cable from the battery in the winter, so double checked that that lead was tight.
Turned out the positive one was a little loose.
Aaron65, now that the mystery is solved a post-conviction how, and why, would be interesting.
Did the parasite’s escape path involve covertly energizing the alternator’s field? Was it strictly an inside job, all handled within the regulator?
Would unplugging the alternator’s RF terminal show that the alternator was truly a completely innocent party to this scheme? …or not?
Since I was able to check three different regulators on the car, and only the offending one showed signs of a draw, I didn’t progress into the field of unplugging the alternator in any way. 🙂
I’ve also driven the car at least 50 miles since, with no signs of trouble.
This brought a flashback to a forgotten troubleshooting trick that used to be second nature for me. Touch the alternator of a cold engine, if the field’s been energized (stuck relay) for any length of time the alternator would be warm.
If suspicion of an energized field was higher, (or the alternator warm) then one could touch the alternator’s back with the nearest convenient ferrous item to see if the magnetism of an energized field grabs it.