Alternator stopped working again. I've learned more about charging systems than I ever wanted to learn. That's a good skill to have though, if I ever buy a VW or something French. I had another cluster in the 'parts box' that the previous owner gave to me, so I decided to swap out the cluster while I was there to get a working odometer.
Well, let me first say that both of the odometers are broken. One says 217k and the other like 116k. I'd guess the car has 200k+. Whatever. I ended up back at this, since I didn't want to mess with it.
Throwing the cluster back in the car. The charging system has an "exciter" circuit that requires a jump start to the alternator. ...Or something like that. The light that says if your alternator is charging or not on your instrument cluster is part of that circuit. If the bulb is out, well, your alternator won't work. My bulb was working, however. The circuit goes from switched 12V to the ECU -> cluster -> blub -> cluster -> alternator. Because there wasn't very much information on r3v or e30tech, I didn't know where to start. Luckily Dr. Bentley had my back. There was a continuity issue from the cluster to the alternator. Ran a new line to the firewall and, VOILA. Charging circuit completed.
I found out a few days later that my battery was also on the way out and I was chasing my tail with parasitic draw.
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