Electrical wiring on a '79 Starline Chevy van ambulance

John Burchfield

John Burchfield

PCS Life Member
About a month ago I picked up a 1979 Starline Chevrolet van ambulance (a "type II"). It's a cool truck, owned by an aluminum plant since new with VERY low mileage. I bought it from a maintenance guy at the plant. Upon getting it to the barn, some 100 miles away, I determined the alternator wasn't charging-I'd made it on the power from the two nearly new Optima batteries! Off to the shop the following Monday where it's been since. The alternator has been rebuilt (stator was burned out) but the mechanic hasn't been able to figure out why there's still no output from the alternator. The truck has two voltage regulators, one of which he determined was bad. That's been replaced. Does anyone have a wiring diagram for a setup like this? The alternator is a 130-145amp model, not a Delco Remy. The alternator rebuilder is off this week, as is a friend of the mechanic's who has worked on some of the county's fire trucks and ambulances. We're thinking a wire is burned out somewhere, but he also is going to have the alternator man recheck the alt. Working under this hood is probably like trying to work through a mail slot! Thanks for any info. on this.
 

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John Burchfield said:
About a month ago I picked up a 1979 Starline Chevrolet van ambulance (a "type II"). It's a cool truck, owned by an aluminum plant since new with VERY low mileage. I bought it from a maintenance guy at the plant. Upon getting it to the barn, some 100 miles away, I determined the alternator wasn't charging-I'd made it on the power from the two nearly new Optima batteries! Off to the shop the following Monday where it's been since. The alternator has been rebuilt (stator was burned out) but the mechanic hasn't been able to figure out why there's still no output from the alternator. The truck has two voltage regulators, one of which he determined was bad. That's been replaced. Does anyone have a wiring diagram for a setup like this? The alternator is a 130-145amp model, not a Delco Remy. The alternator rebuilder is off this week, as is a friend of the mechanic's who has worked on some of the county's fire trucks and ambulances. We're thinking a wire is burned out somewhere, but he also is going to have the alternator man recheck the alt. Working under this hood is probably like trying to work through a mail slot! Thanks for any info. on this.
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John have them check the battery wiring + Alternator wiring + cple hersee switch
How much power do you have = are you able to start the van now

Russ
 
two regulators I would be wondering. ground is always a suspect on any electrical problem. take the pos wire off the terminal and use a test light to see if its putting out any juice. then if it is make sure that hot wire goes to the regulator left on. everything hot should go threw the cut off switch except a tickle wire for the clock. the switch on both batteries should charge both batteries. it may not be going out to the regulator or they had one battery on one and the the other on the second one. you never know how it was done or who did it for why.
 
Today I went by the shop to check on progress. The bad voltage regulator has been replaced. He wants to take the truck to the alternator rebuilder so he can check it. I took a few more pictures-don't know if they will help or not. The batteries are charged and the truck starts fine. It has a 10/2 Shumacher charger under the driver's seat. It's built in, wired to the batteries and an AC plug on the driver's side of the truck. They haven't used this charger at the shop, nor was a the Cole-Hersee switch shut off. I shut it off to prevent battery drain in the cold weather.
 

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I can't be see the two batteries cabled together can I. the charger would have gone right to the batteries and come on auto when pluged in to shore power. at least that's the way they normally were wired. the batteries should be independent of each other. each go to ground. the hot to the power switch. from there to the normal car operation. there should be only one regulator as you only have one alternator. bet the other one is a different solid state device to control one of the other functions behind the drivers seat. possible the 110 converter. though most of them were a big box behind or under the drivers seat. the hardest thing to do is redo what some one else thought was a quick fix. good luck.
 
Richard Vyse said:
Neat ambulance John. Let's share more pictures of the rest of the vehicle please.
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I'll be able to get some more pictures when I get it out of the shop, Richard. This project is moving like a herd of turtles.....Actually I do have a photo or two from the "buying trip" that I'll post in the general section.
 
Well, the alternator problem was solved by removing the original rebuilt alternator and voltage regulators and going to a more modern GM style alternator w/ built in regulator. They couldn't get one of the models of regulator any more. It's charging fine now. Other things have come up and been dealt with: new master cylinder and front brake line, and last week a new radiator! All part of "getting the cobwebs out" of an old vehicle. Bringing it home last month the brake pedal went to the floor at the second stop sign about 28 miles up the road. That was somewhat exciting, but I fortunately had enough left to get stopped. Bought some fluid and drove the rest of the way carefully! I'll put some photos in the general section. Being a series 30 "ChevyVan" the heavy duty brakes feel strong now that they're working, unlike some later model GM trucks I've driven or owned.
 
How Did I Miss This One

Well, I too want to see more pictures of this fine new acquisition Doc. The vanbulance is being ignored too much and a lot of classic rigs are getting lost. We owe it to ourselves to start seeing to their preservation. Welcome fellow vanbulance owner fellow new pioneer of the PCS (Steinberg & Herrick hate hearing that) :14_6_20:
 
John Burchfield said:
Well, the alternator problem was solved by removing the original rebuilt alternator and voltage regulators and going to a more modern GM style alternator w/ built in regulator. They couldn't get one of the models of regulator any more. It's charging fine now.
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You just need to know where to look when you are trying to repair an older vehicle. The parts are out there, just not available at your local auto parts store that doesn't stock anything unless the car was built within the last 10 years. My Chevy and Chrysler are both almost 50 years old, and I got new regulators for both of them, and they both have high output alternators, not the standard car units.
 
Ron Devies said:
Well, I too want to see more pictures of this fine new acquisition Doc. The vanbulance is being ignored too much and a lot of classic rigs are getting lost. We owe it to ourselves to start seeing to their preservation. Welcome fellow vanbulance owner fellow new pioneer of the PCS (Steinberg & Herrick hate hearing that) :14_6_20:
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Will do, Chief!
 
Paul Steinberg said:
You just need to know where to look when you are trying to repair an older vehicle. The parts are out there, just not available at your local auto parts store that doesn't stock anything unless the car was built within the last 10 years. My Chevy and Chrysler are both almost 50 years old, and I got new regulators for both of them, and they both have high output alternators, not the standard car units.
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That's true, Paul. Interestingly, the more modern alternator is a 120amp unit while the older one was 115amp.
 
Ron Devies said:
Well, I too want to see more pictures of this fine new acquisition Doc. The vanbulance is being ignored too much and a lot of classic rigs are getting lost. We owe it to ourselves to start seeing to their preservation. Welcome fellow vanbulance owner fellow new pioneer of the PCS (Steinberg & Herrick hate hearing that) :14_6_20:
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All of a sudden you get religion!!!!!!! Coming from a guy that threw away the air conditioning unit from his van, even after having been told that it was a very rare part that he will never be able to replace. Where was your "preservation" when you put that unit into the dumpster? Someone that had very little interest or respect for the van until he learned that it was built by Pinner under contract for another company.

Historical Days in the life of Ron Devies.....
July 27, 2010... He arrives in Albany NY in his 2002 Chrysler Sebring flower car.
July 28, 2010... the day that Ron Devies gets "religion"
March 8, 2011... He becomes a ordained minister in the "order of vanbulance preservation".
 
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