Under the hood of my 79 on the inside of the driver front fender, there is a gold box. What is it? What does it do? Any help greatly appreciated!!

 

It's the charcoal canister and is part of the vaccuum system.

 

The charcoal canister in a 79 is part of the lid of the air cleaner.

There are a couple possible "gold boxes" on the driver's fender of an SA; can you be a little more specific?

Is it in front of, or behind, the shock tower?

About how big is it?

The voltage regulator sits just beyond the firewall, inset in the driver's side fender behind the shock tower. Might be that.

Pictures really help, too.

EDIT: I snagged this 79 engine bay from a listing on e-bay, & marked it up... This might help.

 

Ok, From the looking at the picture, I'd say it's the voltage regulator. What exactly does that do, and how bad is it, if it's not fuctioning properly.

 

the voltage regulator regulates alernator output voltage. if its not functioning properly your alternator will either be over or undercharging, resulting in a bad battery wither way and possibly zapping some of the other electrical components.

 

It controls the voltage output of your alternator, so that it correctly charges your battery without frying anything.

It's quite important that it work right, as a failure could result in anything from a dead battery & getting stranded (if it fails low) to frying a lot of parts & instruments, or boiling your battery dry (if it fails high).

It's basically a specialized relay; it can get out of adjustment and be repaired sometimes, but you'll need detailed info to do that... expecially if you didn't know what it was.

An aftermarket Haynes manual will cover it.

(Late send, sorry for duplicate info)

 

So where may I purchase a new one?

 

napa sells it here: http://www.napaonline.com/masterpage...tage+Regulator

or through advance auto: http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/Pro...tage+Regulator

shop online or try the store closest to you.. that or post a want to buy ad in the 1st gen for sale/wanted section

 

Hey thanks man, I appreciate it. Spendy part though.

 

it is expensive. parts for the SA's are getting to be as scarce as hen's teeth

 

Ok, my next question. I read somewhere that on later cars, the voltage regulator is located inside of the alternator on newer cars. I also read about someone using an S5 alternator with the SA. If so, can I switch to an S5 alternator and rid myself of voltage box completely? God, so many things going wrong with my car, so little time.

 

Yes you can. There are several threads in the archives that cover this.

Before you go replacing parts. Have you had the system tested?


[quote='sa22c[est. 1979];8841652']Ok, my next question. I read somewhere that on later cars, the voltage regulator is located inside of the alternator on newer cars. I also read about someone using an S5 alternator with the SA. If so, can I switch to an S5 alternator and rid myself of voltage box completely? God, so many things going wrong with my car, so little time.

 

How would I test the system, I guess double checking could potentially save me $130.

 

You can either buy a $4.00 test meter at your local Harbor freight and at least test to see what the voltage out put is or you can just take the car to the local Schuck"s and they will test the system in the car. They will test the battery and can tell you whether the system is charging or not. They cannot tell you what the amperage out put of the Alternator is but you will know if it is charging.

To see if the alternator is good you can take it off and take it into Schuck's and they can test it.

Other testing can be done by reading the Factory service manual regarding the charging system.

Why do you believe their is an issue with the system?

 

basically what happened, was in the process of jump starting my car, my friend hooked the cables up to my battery, and then, like an idiot set one down on to the box, from which smoke billowed out... I'm guessing it got fried in the process

 

Ouch. Time to fire the friend. From a cannon.

Did this have any effect on operation? Did the car start/run/charge the battery afterward? Or what?

 

http://www.blackdragonauto.com/ICATA...l.aspx?Page=79

 

^^thats an excellent price on that regulator!!

 

Yeah, all the instruments worked for the 3 seconds I had it running, all the exterior lamps work, so everything seemd fine.

 

Wait, did I read 24.97 right?

 

No, you read wrong. It's actually $19.95 plus shipping.

 

Thanks Doc. Lol.

 

I havenone kastquestion for anyone who can answer. I pulled a voltage regulator from a 79 mazda truck, will that work in my car the one I pulled is slightly larger than the one in my car but still fits in the stock location. If it doesn't work in my car, why not?

 

They have the same plugs so plug it in and see if it works. :-)

 

Wow, you guys are far more helpful than the nissan forum lol.