Lincoln "L" Technical Questions

Al,

As usual, thank you for the help! I'm thankful when people here respond. I know there is a massive amount of knowledge out there and maybe people are timid about voicing their thoughts. Don't be! I guarantee that folks like me appreciate any and all information/opinions.

Thanks again

Bill,

Thank you! I hope to get into it (under it) soon. Will report back.

Jeff

Normal high amperage from generator is 20 A. When thermostatic switch adds resistance to field return, charging current drops to about 10 A.

As others suggest, you may have a short circuit or nearly so in one of the car's electrical; systems. Try disconnecting the wire from generator (and battery) to circuit breaker. Bad contact must be upstream of the circuit breaker, or you would CB would cut out the fault (unless CB is faulty).

Wires getting hot means current is flowing, more current than they are meant to carry, this means not enough resistance back to ground somewhere, in other words a partial short circuit, loose wire, wire with insulation missing and touching part of the cars metal grounded components.

If the car has been working for years as you say then probably something like above is causing the problem. The wiring circuit does not change on its own. Trace the 'hot' wire back to the terminal strip ,through various components along the way, on the firewall and disconnect it there, or at any terminal. Then start the car, the amps should be normal. If they are then follow the disconnected wire from the terminal in the other direction, check insulation and any components.

You must find or your car may end up with a serious fire!

Thank you, Al!

Yes, it has definitely been altered. It was like this when I bought it 20 years ago or so. The starter works off the original pedal as you describe. The generator does turn when the ignition switch is turned on. The starter engages off the pedal nicely. I only recently noticed that it seemed to be charging high for too long. I replaced the incorrect amp gauge with an original one but I'm pretty sure it was happening before then. My memory isn't too good on the subject. I'll dig through my unpacked boxes from our move and see if I can find my Lincoln info. I do have most of the bulletins.

Electricity and I do not mesh as easily as the Lincoln starter...

Some "clever" person has buggered up your Lincoln's electrical system:

1) there is no Voltage Regulator- the box on the inside of the firewall is a Circuit Breaker for the car's internal wiring systwm

2) generator 3rd brush should have a temperature activated switch which inserts a resistance into the field circuit, reducing output current by half. This an early form of control before the application of voltage regulator systems to cars in 1930s

3) there should Not be a solenoid on the starter. The starter gears are intended to be moved into mesh with the starter pinion and toe flywheel mechanically, by a small foot pedal near the throttle pedal. The generator field is connected to the ignition switch, so the generator turns slowly as a motor when ignition is turned on.

The setup you have apparently works, but the original system is simple and effective. t might work to install a simple .6 volt regulator in the generator field circuit.

Get copies of LOC published Model L service books. The starter generator system is thoroughly covered there. There are also some Forum posts on this topic.

Good Luck!

What should the amp gauge read after the car is warmed up and has run for a while? My 29 still charges pretty high even after a longer trip. It shows charging 20 amps or so. This may or may not have contributed to my problem once I got home, where some wires got hot and started smoking under the dash. It melted the plastic off of them. It's original wiring on the front of the firewall, but new or a combination on the back. I haven't totally dissected it yet, but it's the wire that connects to the large green wire inside the firewall labeled Starter. The solenoid (?) was super hot, but some things I've read say that's normal. The voltage regulator was cool as a cucumber.