Man, you absolutely made my day. (If not week...) I have the exact same problem with the amp light when I remove the key. Tried at first also a new voltage regulater with no success. Now I thought about to replace the ignition switch, but never at the alternator! Your vids are great!
Glad to help! It was the perfect storm of everything was bad all at once, the switch is year specific if you go through Rockauto, you either want the '64 switch and tumbler with the little D hole or the '66 switch and tumbler with the flat blade or slot. If you go for the 1965 year on rock auto, you get the 1966 switch with the 1964 tumbler... that was a delay. The Voltage regulator came from Napa, the AC Delco alternator from Rockauto, the first one didn't work, then the replacement from Rockauto worked. The good news is that none of these parts is that expensive and are not particularly hard to replace. I'm glad to help! With so little content out there on these cars, I'm glad to be shedding some light onto these things! Please share with anyone that needs this and be sure to check out the links to some of the tools I'm using in the description of the video, they make my life a lot easier and I want to share them with my viewers.
Are you on the Buick Riviera forum of the AACA? its a great resource with tons of information and has been a ton of help for me with the ongoing restoration process of my '64. Otherwise, keep up the good work - you've been a ton of help while I tackle a lot of the the same issues on mine!
I'll haunt that from time to time. I have found some info there and V8Buick's forum too. Given my schedule, I don't have much time to dig through forums.
I wound up eleminating the external regulator on my 65. Put a internally regulated one off of a late Seventies Camaro with a plug and play harness from Speedway Motors. Came with a plug to fit the external regulator harness to ground it out permanently. Left the old regulator bolted on for looks. Also had to rewire my ignition switch pigtail since the Batt wire burnt the connector. All this done, and my overcharging issues all went away.
I have 65 Riviera length of the wires on the mission switch so I can replace it on the floor board if need to be and I just stuffed everything back up and it works fine you guys are so hard to fiddle with those little wires in a small space so that’s what I did
They're a pain to work with and the connector fell apart on me so I very carefully put it back together making sure the spade lugs were tight. A little more length on the wires would be nice!
Ahh... that's a unique one with a story! We actually built it from an old Sun 90 degree sweep tach. We have an engraver that took the face, scanned it, and plotted out numbers to look like the rare factory tach. He also made the Riviera logo that covers the bottom half. Let me do some digging and see if I can find one that would also look right.
There's a lot of things to verify. Grab a wiring diagram and start verifying power to your ignition and correct grounding. There are simple tests to verify the coil with a DVOM. If it's still on points, you'll want to reset those and verify the components are good. If you've switched to a newer style points eliminator, there's some troubleshooting from the manufacturer, could be a magnetic pick up. Start at one end of the ignition and work your way through it.
Man, you absolutely made my day. (If not week...) I have the exact same problem with the amp light when I remove the key. Tried at first also a new voltage regulater with no success. Now I thought about to replace the ignition switch, but never at the alternator! Your vids are great!
Glad to help! It was the perfect storm of everything was bad all at once, the switch is year specific if you go through Rockauto, you either want the '64 switch and tumbler with the little D hole or the '66 switch and tumbler with the flat blade or slot. If you go for the 1965 year on rock auto, you get the 1966 switch with the 1964 tumbler... that was a delay. The Voltage regulator came from Napa, the AC Delco alternator from Rockauto, the first one didn't work, then the replacement from Rockauto worked. The good news is that none of these parts is that expensive and are not particularly hard to replace.
I'm glad to help! With so little content out there on these cars, I'm glad to be shedding some light onto these things! Please share with anyone that needs this and be sure to check out the links to some of the tools I'm using in the description of the video, they make my life a lot easier and I want to share them with my viewers.
This is a great video... fantastic information... Thank you for doing it!
This is one of those ones that took me down several roads to get to the end!
Are you on the Buick Riviera forum of the AACA? its a great resource with tons of information and has been a ton of help for me with the ongoing restoration process of my '64. Otherwise, keep up the good work - you've been a ton of help while I tackle a lot of the the same issues on mine!
I'll haunt that from time to time. I have found some info there and V8Buick's forum too. Given my schedule, I don't have much time to dig through forums.
I wound up eleminating the external regulator on my 65. Put a internally regulated one off of a late Seventies Camaro with a plug and play harness from Speedway Motors. Came with a plug to fit the external regulator harness to ground it out permanently. Left the old regulator bolted on for looks. Also had to rewire my ignition switch pigtail since the Batt wire burnt the connector. All this done, and my overcharging issues all went away.
I was leaning to go that way if it was my car. It's my dad's car and he wanted to stay externally regulated.
I have 65 Riviera length of the wires on the mission switch so I can replace it on the floor board if need to be and I just stuffed everything back up and it works fine you guys are so hard to fiddle with those little wires in a small space so that’s what I did
They're a pain to work with and the connector fell apart on me so I very carefully put it back together making sure the spade lugs were tight. A little more length on the wires would be nice!
Would love to pick up one of those Tach's. Can you provide a link or source please :)
Ahh... that's a unique one with a story! We actually built it from an old Sun 90 degree sweep tach. We have an engraver that took the face, scanned it, and plotted out numbers to look like the rare factory tach. He also made the Riviera logo that covers the bottom half. Let me do some digging and see if I can find one that would also look right.
Any chance someone could help me with my no spark problem? I can’t get spark at my plugs? Thx
There's a lot of things to verify. Grab a wiring diagram and start verifying power to your ignition and correct grounding. There are simple tests to verify the coil with a DVOM. If it's still on points, you'll want to reset those and verify the components are good. If you've switched to a newer style points eliminator, there's some troubleshooting from the manufacturer, could be a magnetic pick up. Start at one end of the ignition and work your way through it.