Voltage Stabilizer

[linklaw]

I grew tired of having my fuel gauge reading more than half a tank when it was near empty and my temperature gauge reading 140 degrees celcius when I am able to put my hand on the engine. I purchased a solid state voltage stabilizer and went to install it this past weekend. After spending a half hour on my back under the dash with a trouble light, I was still unable to find the offending unit. Does anyone know the location of the voltage stabilizer or whether instruments need to be removed to access it?  All helpful hints will be appreciated. John AK1103

[jbottini]

John, did you check the area where the fuze box lives in the passenger footbox? Jim

[linklaw]

Jim, I looked carefully in that area and couldn't see anything that resembled the voltage stabilizer. Will check again though. John

[jbottini]

John, I'm phone challenged as I switched cells and laptops, so please send contact info. But looked on both my electrical diagrams and as you would suspect they both reference the stabilizer (both carb and EFI cars). MKIV and I discussed yesterday at my house & the two locations are in foot box  (as basically  all power flows from there) and behind main cluster on dash. Have you thought about removing screws from under top lip of dash, dropping column down (if adjustable) and tipping dash back (pivot on lower trans tunnel mounts)? Jim

[ak1234]

Are we refering to a voltage regulator ???  dosent FORD build them into the Alternator these days ???
   
   Ron

[linklaw]

Ron, the part I am referring to is the voltage stabilizer, which is supposed to send a constant voltage of around 10 volts to certain of the instruments. The fuel gauge and temperature gauge will read high if more than 10 volts are supplied and low if less than 10 volts are supplied. I believe the device installed when our cars were new is the old style stabilizer which operates with points inside a tin container, hidden somewhere behind the dashboard. I have purchased the new space age solid state stabilizer which is supposed to be more reliable than the original.  We'll see...  The voltage regulator is built into the alternator and maintains the output of the alternator at an acceptable level, 13 volts or whatever. These are two different parts, serving two different functions. I hope to dive into the dashboard this weekend to again try to locate and replace the offending unit. John AK1103

[jbottini]

John, you have an email @ linklaw. Jim

[linklaw]

I found it!  I removed the passenger (right) side underdash panel and there it was, just hanging there above the radio.  The stabilizer should be grounded and mine was not, so I grounded it and tried it. It was still malfunctioning so I replaced it with the solid state unit I had purchased from across the pond.  FYI, the stabilizer has two light green wires (output to the instruments) and a dark green wire (power in to the stabilizer) going to it. I am on my way for a test drive and will post the results later.  John

[linklaw]

Success. On my test drive, the fuel gauge read about 3/4 of a tank which is consistent with the mileage I put on since the last fill up.  The temperature gauge read below 90 degrees celcius, when it would have read 140 before the new stabilizer was installed. John AK1103

[jbottini]

John, this gets saved and printed! jim