The points 'do' arc out and burn in those regulators or you wouldn't
need new ones.... I was always under the impression you needed the
condenser to slow this down.

Sometimes if they have arced while closed, you can thump on the
regulator to get it going again if I remember right. The bad alternator
might have caused this also. Some others you could open and inspect.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2115147590
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

wrote:
> Just tried my '66 GTO's mechanical voltage regulator on my friend's
> '69 Firebird and it started charging his battery again. Even though
> he had bought a new voltage regulator a month or so ago. (And then an
> alternator.) His does not have the condenser installed on the voltage
> regulator like mine does, but there's a terminal for it.
>
> I'm wondering if the condenser is necessary, maybe to keep the
> contacts from burning? I'd heard it was to prevent radio
> intereference, which we don't care about. I can't find anything in
> the service manual about it. If it's necessary to prevent contacts
> burning, maybe his new voltage regulator fried its contacts.
>