Tom M

ALL, When I went to go drop the generator off today the guy goes I see you have a Packard Generator there I just rebuilt a few of them in the last year. For the relay he showed me one he had just rebuilt using a resistor in the original housing. I read somewhere but can't remember where I read it of people rebuilding the relays that way. Is that the correct term I used and the way to go out rebuilding the relay?

Ken, The shop told me they would have it turned around in a few days. We will see. The third brush on your generator is it adjustable? As in you turn a screw to raise or lower the brush to increase or decrease the charging rate.

I may just take a ride up there and check it out (not with old bessie thou ).

Ken, I am going through problems with my generator also. So I finally decided to bite the bullet. I will be dropping the generator off tomorrow at a shop close to work. Hopefully will get it back sometime next week. FYI see the 31Charging and AMP Gauge thread in the Packard forum that I started on my problems with the generator.

Sometimes the mind doesn't think that fast

Google search found duh!!! Lake Forest Car Show

Lake Forest Illionis Car Show on Sunday July 18 anyone here of it or going to it. Was talking to a gent last night and he stated it is a AACA event. Is it?

Dog Spot, The generator was hot to the touch even before I went to hold the relay contact closed. YES I will let you all know the outcome.

Hello JT, Most of the wiring loom is new. I did find the wire that came back from the amp meter to the battery broken. It looked like the brake cable moved the wire back and forth which made it break at the connector. I do have a few shops I got references on. I talk to a individual last night (I got his name from on here) and he gave me a name of a shop he used that did the started and generator on his Caddy. I will give them a call sometime today.

PackardV8, It does charge. As I stated in above post when I hold the contact closed. My concern is that the generator is very hot to the touch and I don?t think that is not right. I did have it apart the other day and found some of the old covering for the wires inside very brittle or even missing in spots so I re-taped them with vinyl electrical tape which I see know I probably should of used the cloth type since the generator gets very hot. You came up with and Idea I was thinking of also by putting in a switch to toggle the charging on and off until I could find a new relay but the hotness of that generator scares me. So that is why I am just going to bite the bullet and it take into a shop (once I get more info on one) and have them rebuild it.

Pierce66, That is what I figured. I just wanted some other humble opions before I had to take it off again. Heck at least it is not as hard to take off compare to that darn t-stat on the truck. I will repost on the outcome after I choose a shop. Thanks to all for the help and info.

Well mine was handed down. But this car will never be roded. My father and Great Uncle would turn over in their graves if I did. Plus I enjoy all the on lookers while driving her they could never figure out what I have until they look at the little hub caps.

Another picture sorry for poor quality it a cheap digital

Well got home tonight from work pulled relay (attach is a pic of it) off and got cover off guess what the contacts were fuzzed together. Pried them apart and reinstalled with the cover off the relay. Yes no more sparks when attaching battery. Took car for a 15-mile ride but amp gauge never got above 0. Got home and found that the relay never closed to charge. I had my lovely wife sit in car while I brought RPMS up and holding contacts closed see said the amp meter went up to around 7amps so I was getting a charge. Looks like I have a bad relay. Another question while I had my hand near the generator I touched the housing and it was very hot to the touch should it be?

I like the cruise nights because at the local pay car shows they all get their buddies to vote on their cars to win the cheap old trophy. That is just my 2 pennies worth.

Thanks for the reply's. I will keep you all inform of my progress on this. Hopefully I will get this resolved by July 25.

Lemont Illinois has a Cruise Night on Wednesdays and a mix of 50/50. Most of the cars are from the muscle car 60-70's era.

Pierce66, Thanks for your reply. The relay is a crimped so I will try and see tonight if I can open it up and see if the contacts are stuck. I just made a call to a Auto Parts store my when stepfather used for years when he owned his Service Station. The owner gave me a name and number of a shop in Lyons Illinois. Guess I will pull Generator off tonight and drop off later this week.

The charging system is original Pre '35. I hook the battery up the cutout relay makes a click/hum noise. So my guess is my relay probably got fried maybe when we attempted to pull start the car the other day. If the relay was bad stuck opened or closed would that make the amp meter drop to the discharge mode and also drain the battery?

I pulled the generator today and took it apart and found some bare wires inside. Cleaned them up and re-taped. I also clean the brushes again. Put it all back together hook wire to the battery terminal on the cutout relay before I install it back in car no sparks but wait once I installed it back on the engine I got the dreaded sparking again. Did some searching/checking of wires to find the wire that comes back from the amp meter to the positive side of battery broken and touching the frame. Did not have any connectors that size so off to Hardware Store and wouldn?t you know it on the way there the Truck temp hit H. Stuck thermostat so now off to the Parts store for thermostat. Got home open hood of truck and boy what a pain to change that stat. You need hands like a baby to get at some of the bolts. Give me that Packard to work on any day. Okay now back to the Packard. Put new connector on broken wire hook (by the way battery is disconnect at this time) it all back up. Went to connect battery same thing getting a spark. I disconnect the wire from the cutout relay hook up battery and started car. Went back and hooked up the wire to relay and then checked amp meter I get a reading +7-8 amps when raising the RPM. Let off gas and it goes down to 0. Once I shut her down the amp gauge buries to ?30+. So I jump out and disconnect the battery ASAP. Sorry for be so long winded but I like to get this figured out so I can take the car to a Charity Show on July 25. I think now I may have a bad cutout relay what do you all think? Any leads where I can get one? Thanks

Nice Pictures. Thanks for sharing. I like the yellow and white combo.

Albert, In the above post they stated I have a cutout relay and it is a sealed unit. I have it sitting here as I type no way of opening it up. JT, There is a number on the bottom side of the cutout relay in blue print 0372. No name of the maker on it at all just the number. I just went back out to car to check again with the cutout off. I held the two wires together that connect to the cutout then hooked up the battery and same thing still sparks. Do you all think I need to take generator off again and clean it out or do I have a short somewhere else?

So you think there is some water left somewhere causing a grounding situation? No more spraying/washing engine bay down anymore for me.

Generator wows again. Yesterday I wash the car and the engine bay (dummy me never learn) and could not get car started to wet I guess plus on top of it all it started to rain down pour. Once the rain stopped I had my brother come by to see if we call pull start her a no go? So we got it into the driveway were now the battery was worn down from cranking earlier. I put charger on for about and hour and she started up got her back into garage for the night. This morning I waxed her all up (for a car show) went to go hook up battery, negative cable first then when I went to go hook up the positive cable I got a spark which I never got before. I thought maybe I had the lights on or fuel pump but neither was on. I touched the Positive cable to post again and I can hear a little hum from the generator. So I disconnect the wire mark to battery from the cutout relay and no more sparks and was able to get car started. Did I short out the generator from when I wash the engine bay down?

Glad to hear that it worked for you. I made me smile when it came free for me instead of droping trans.