The 'E' Type Forum

The Lucas 11 AC alternator is new and the car has the old, rectangular voltage regulator. Ignition light comes on with the ignition, but stays on when the engine starts and I drive the car....
So the battery is probably not charging due to faulty regulator, bad connections or.....?? The AMPS meter is not showing much life. On my other Jaguars the needle will move to D when I turn on the lights, and esp the main beams, but here I have very feeble movement, if any.
Happy to consider all options.....!

ignition warning light relay ?

Regulator. There was a recent post on the subject of failed new regulators.

Agree it's probably the regulator. A good fault guide is:

http://www.coolcatcorp.com/faqs/Lucasalternators3.html

Thank for the above suggestions. As the engine is being run in, after a total rebuild, I need to do more mileage.
Can I just go on driving, perhaps without the headlights in daytime? or will this damage something else? One or two disconnections perhaps.....

If the battery is not charging then you will run it down....so possibly carry a spare or jump leads..Steve

On S2 cars there is an alternator relay which was not, I think, fitted to the earlier cars . It is a 6RA type and on my S2 is fitted to the left hand upper rail ( along with another 6RA type - I cannot remember what this is for ) outboard of the exhaust manifolds . If this has burnt out or not been wired properly, then you will get no current even thought the alternator works perfectly

Re Steve's posting : you certainly will run the battery down, but cause no other harm. Without headlights, you probably have about 2.5 hours running time before everything shuts down, so keep the battery well charged . Jump leads are only of limited use unless you can find someone who will give you a good 10 or 15 minute charge from their engine. Without this, as soon as you disconnect the leads, your engine will fade and stop

Or about 1 hours running time with headlights on and wipers going ... I know this from my collection drive from the docks along the coast ... stopped at my office to show-off the car ... and couldn't restart it ... a bit embarassing (and annoying) on first ever trip in new acquisition :(

No harm came to the battery or alternator, and everything has worked fine ever since. Source of problem turned out to be radio which had been turned on in the docks in the US, and left on... So the battery had a nice constant drain for a couple of weeks...

Why not replace it with a modern alternator, i put in a lucas a127 with built in regulator.The cost is about 70 pounds. Works great :D