Ok i do not have a cougar or a t bird i have a 84 mustang svo 2.3 turbo that was converted to 92 5.0 high output
Im trying to get some help but not much on the mustang sites
It has an ampmeter that is always at halfway point even with vehicle off
I have a externally regulated 1 g , it has 3 wire connections on the alternator, i need to replace it because this alternator was creating a parasitic draw
I have a rjm injection 3 g alternator upgrade harness
I replaced it with a 3G from a 94-95 mustang that has A,S,I conenctions and a stator hook up Also has a positive battery post which i connected to the solenoid on the fender
the external regulator has 4 connections the I wire (not sure of color was replaced with a thin blue solid blue wire) runs into the fuse box under blower motor,,,,,
The A wire is yellow and white and I hooked it to the A conenction on the internal regulated 3G
The S wire is green and red and i hooked it to the I wire on the 3 G alternator
The fourth wire at the external regulator is orange and light blue
and i do not have this hooked up
all stock wires for alternator arent hooked up and were replaced with good wire from there perspective positions as stated above
there are no draws in the car, when sitting it has .00 for current draw
My battery does not charge, in fact the voltage when sitting is 12.5 or so and when i start it it has 12.2 volts, after couple days i gotta swap in a fully charged battery or it wont crank
where did i go wrong?
need some help please, not sure if im ready to take the alternator out and test it at a local shop
are you talking about the wires at the alt? if you are all you need is the green/red wire to hook it up. the yellow on the 3g reg plug goes to tge batt stud on the alt. the wht/bl wire goes to the stator plug on the alt. all thoes wires on your 1g come from your ext reg. disconnect the ext reg run your grn/ rd wire to the 3g. hook everything up and you should be good to go. there is an excelent write up on it in the sticky section of electral tech.
the 4 wires i was talkin about are off the external regulator that was in there pre 3g
i tried alot of stuff but cant get it to charge maybe its a bad alternator
i also read the thread aobut it in electrical tech and that was the way i had it hooked up
do i maybe need to have the stock alternator wires hooked up to the alternator too?
Not sure if I can be of any help personally, but you might try reading all of this
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=18555
The info you need is there, barring any wiring bugs.
see link below,, lots of sweat and hard work went into the the thread but your answer is in post 50. Be advised you need to report back on your results especially since it "was" a 2.3 to start with and I am just as curious as you about the ammeter. To answer your question my own way, you need to make your wiring and alternator look like the picture. Please understand you are migrating away from the external regulator so do so now and prepare your harness as described.
Also,, verify your alternator is not defective so your not chasing your tail.
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=13641&page=5
Did the ammeter work before you changed the alternator?
From my 84 shop manual; the original setup had no wire on the "I" terminal of the external reg.
The green/Red wire to the "S" of the external reg should be hot with the ignition in run. If it is not, someone probable haywired a hot in RUN wire to the "I" of the external reg to "fix" the problem.
If the wire you put on the "A" of the 3g is hot at all times.
And if the wire you put on the "I" of the 3G is hot in RUN, the alternator should work.
Once you get it working you will need to decide whether you want the ammeter to work or if you want to increase the wire size to take advantage of the additional current available from the 3G.
Let us know.
well at least i am getting some answers here
not sure about ampmeter i didnt drive car much before putting 3 g into it
I will check these wires with my voltometer tommorow
so heres what i do correct??
Check the wire hooked up to the I on the alternator,it should be hot at all times, ill chekc it with the car off
then i will check the wire that is running to the A on the alternator, this wire should only be hot when the car is running?? so i should check it while the car is off then start it up and check it again...
Ill also check the mysterious I wire on the external regulator that runs into the blower motor slot on the fuse box(wires just stuck in along side fuse)
that haywiring may make sense now, maybe that is telling the alternator to charge when the vehicle is started causing current to flow thru the blower motor fuse box slot...
Ill check into it and make sure i post the results, appreciate the help
NO.
The "I" terminal on the 3G should be hot when the ignition switch is in run. Don't start the car. You can unplug the cable from the 3G if that will make it easier to check.
The "A" terminal should be hot at all times.
ok some new info has arisen here the orange and light blue wire from the external regulator was one of the original 3 wires that were on the old externally regulated 1g checked some wires but didnt have time to do much i had to take the car to the body shop for new paint
The orange/light blue wire from the external reg to the 1G was the field wire.
The 3G doesn't need this. It is internal with the built-in reg.
Ok here is some more information to add
the battery is in the hatch, should i run the 4 gauge wire off the alternator output directly on the battery?
it looks like its going to the solenoid on the fender wall right now, and it is not on the same post as the cable from the battery that runs into the solenoid
I also just checked the voltages on the A and I wire
i was getting constant voltage on the A wire 12.58
I got no voltage on the I terminal off of the 3g at standstill, and also no voltage when the key was in run position ( i unplugged the wire to check it)
Positive terminal battery to "forward" post on solenoid.
Negative terminal battery to solid ground (make sure the ground is clean, no paint corrrosion etc)
Heavy cable+fuse from alternator to "forward" post on solenoid.
Heavy cable from solenoid "rear" post to starter.
Check the engine ground strap while your're at it.
By "forward" I mean the one to your left, if the solenoid is mounted on the driver's side wheel well and you're standing behind it.
(edit) If you've already tried the combo as you stated, you might have blown a fuse or three. (/edit)
hmm a mechanic shop is the one that changed the way the wiring was I had it running off the alternator output to the same post the battery cable was hooked on
so does anyone know why my I terminal is not getting hot in run position? talking about the I terminal off the alternator here, should i actually have the car running when checking this?
should i try a battery jus in the front and hook the alternator output cable to it and the thuicker ground wire i ran off the alternator bracket to it and see if it charges?
im pretty much about to take the alternator out and take it to autozone havem test it to see if its even any good, any suggestions?
hah ok i looked at my solenoid and they have the alternator output running to the same post that a thick black wire is on that runs to the engine block it looks like
However i disconnected the cable stated above and im still not getting a charge and the I terminal on the alternator is not getting hot
If the A is constantly hot, then how does the alternator determine when the I gets hot??? does it get hot when the alternator spins or what? as far as i determine theres nothing letting the alternator know when the I should be hot, i only have the 1 wire hooked uo thats constant, and the other wire that is supposed to go hot when the key is in run
Do you have 3 post or 4 post solenoid?
FIRST it is IMPORTANT that the alternator output goes to same place the positive cable from the battery goes.
Do this before anything else!!
The original 1g wireing is screwed up or no longer exists
Plan B: You said the blue wire on the "I" terminal of the external reg went to the blower fuse (fuse #9). This should be hot with the ignition in run. Check it with with your meter to be sure.
If it checks good hook it to the "I" of the 3G.
The alternator should now work.
Next step is to make it a safer set-up.
Splice the blue wire into the blower fuse circuit to get rid of the stuffed in along side of the fuse thing.
Now go to the link that jcassity put in post #5 of this thread.
Go to post #49 in that thread and find the "3.8/5.0 after" diagram.
Get the stuff you need to wire it up like this diagram.
You will have your blue wire on the "I" instead of the green shown in the diagram.
ive been watching this thread softtouch,, I just dont seem to have as much time anymore to partite at the level of detail i usually enjoy.
Your saying that the blue wire will substitute in where the green would have been.
Does his existing engine by wiring qualify as a DS1 , DSII or DSIII ?
I would like to see if this is another breed of wiring we need to include into the diagrams.
It was a 2.3 L EEC IV Mustang with an ammeter. It had a 5.0 put in it and somehow the voltage reg. wireing has gotten screwed up. I don't think he did the work himself.
He doesn't have a green wire to put on the reg because that wire is only on cars without an ammeter. The orginal "hot in run" through the ammeter isn't working, so it is easier use a different source for "hot in run", the blue wire, than to try to figure out what's wrong with the ammeter circuit.
I think this is a unique situation.
darn it,,
another dead end road with a potential 2.3L 3g conversion.
I sure as heck would like another opportunity on a 2.3L 3g project.
The last attempt resulted in a fire with little details of the cause from what we all concluded.
SUCCESS
I switched the cable over to the right post on solenoid and also hooked up the light blue wire that was coming out of my blower motor slot in the fuse box to the I post on the alternator and now im sitting at 13.6 at idle and 14.4 or so when revd a bit
maybe you should add a special diagram of how to jimmy rig an alternator like this as a last resort
Id like to thank you all for your help I really appreciate it all, I couldnt get useful information like this on stangnet
Just for kicks, can you post a pic or two of what you did?
and you have a functional amp meter?
nah i bypassed the amp meter, is there a way to hook it up easily? its still sitting at halfway even with vehicle off
Ill try n get some pics soon have to use a buddys camera
softtouch
do you want me to update the 3g drawing or would you do it?
I just used Thunderchicken's original one from a few years ago and opened it with paint , added notes and stuff.
I don't know what kind of an update you want. His original stock wiring was screwed up to begin with.
Here is what the original wiring should have been. The ignition swt. circuit to the "S" of the reg. was not working.
(http://mysite.verizon.net/vzetk5cc/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/AltExRegAmp.JPG.w560h379.jpg)
If you use the existing wiring you can have 3G with a working ammeter.
It is when you increase the wire gauge to take advantage of the higher current available from the 3G that it gets sticky.
And unless I am missing something you only would be using more current if you have some non-stock extra electrical load.
For the meter to be meaningful, the output of the alternator has to go through the meter circuit. Not directly to the + battery terminal on the starter relay.
The ammeter and the meter shunt are a matched pair. They are a parallel circuit with the shunt being a very low resistance and the meter movement a high resistance.
Say for instance with 20 amps flowing, 19.8 amps are going through the shunt and .2 amps through the meter. The meter reads 20 amps.
Now say you double the gauge of the shunt (halve the resistance?)
Now with 20 amps flowing, 19.9 amps are going through the shunt and .1 amps through the meter. The meter reads 10 amps.
How do you recalibrate the meter?
Anyhoo its a lot easier to forget about the meter.