I have and 81 pickup that wont charge the battery the truck has a new battery and i just installed a new alternator but its almost like the alternator isnt doin anything at all. Does anyone know if there is some kind of exterior regulator or maybe a fuse of some kind that could be blown???

 

You might have a bad voltage regulator, it mounted on the driver side inner fender.

 

Check your grounds. Feel all connections for excess heat. A hot connection is a bad connection.

x2 on voltage regulator

 

I just picked up a voltage regulator the old one looks to be in bad shape so ill jump on that tomorrow and double check all my connections, thanks for the tips guys

 

Sooo, is it fixed?

 

I had a fun one when I first got my rig, the guy had put an '86 alternator in it, and hacked together a pig tail connector. Must have been relatively recent, as it wasn't anywhere near wired up right and not charging the battery at all. I managed to use the connector from the external voltage regulator as a splice to hook up to the '81 wiring harness (with lots of help from an uncle).

Curious too...is it fixed?