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Topic: Alternator wires? (Read 7241 times) previous topic - next topic

Alternator wires?

Reply #30 –
having the battery in the trunk makes no difference.

-you pulled all fuses and the 12v drain is still there
-I assume you pulled all the small wiring off *one side* of the starter relay leaving the battery still bonded to the starter relay and the 12v drain was still there.

-this tells me the solenoid is still in the circuit and nothing else on your car is tied to the battery anymore.

-there is the option that you have a very minor knick in the wiring from the trunk up to the starter relay that allows your battery to barely touch chassis ground and yet not smoke check anything.  Do a wiggle test on the battery cable going to the starter relay and with your test light in line with your battery negative cable.

Alternator wires?

Reply #31 –
leme reword,,,


with your test light in line with your battery negative cable and the negative post,,,,,

and,,,

your positive battery cable connected to the starter relay


and,,

all the small wiring removed from your starter relay

do you still have the 12v drain?

makes no difference if your battery is in the trunk or not.  You could have a knicked battery cable and its barely touching chassis ground as well.  do a wiggle test on the positive battery cable after you do the above.

Alternator wires?

Reply #32 –
With a test lite on the negative side of the battery and all the small wires of the fender wall relay off the test lite is out. Put 2 wires for car on and had lite. Rechecked fuses pulling one at a time lite went out after pulling fuse #8. I still have 11.36 volts on a meter and 11.99 in bat.  Connected neg side back and pulled pos cable had same reading. Disconnected plug from alt got a rerading of  0.33. The guy that built the alternator says it fine
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]:ford:87 Turbo Coupe through the floor sub frame connectors, 5.8 swap Ford racing heads Harland sharp 1.6 rockers BBK shorty swap headers 2 1/2 BBk X pipe magnaflow ler's. Megasquirt 2 with 36lbs injectors on hurricane intake with 4150 throttle body.Tremec TKO 600 Quicktime blowsheild spec stage 3 clutch. 3.73 gears and still not done

Alternator wires?

Reply #33 –
I am going to jump in on this quick to verify if I'm correctly understanding what I'm reading, since I am also having some kind of alternator/wiring/charging problem. 

You are saying that if I disconnect everything from the starter solenoid except the positive battery cable, and hook up a test light between the negative post and the negative cable, and the tester lights up, that this is a problem?  Because I just tried it on my car and the test light fires right up.  The kicker is I just put in a new solenoid about a month ago.  Maybe it was a lemon?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

Alternator wires?

Reply #34 –
Fuse 8 goes to a bunch of courtesy lights, power door locks, Keyless entry, power mirrors, anti-theft and illuminated entry.
Are you sure no lights were on when you were testing? Door open, trunk light on, under the hood light on.

Go back to your test light setup.
Remove the under the hood and the trunk bulbs. Make sure a door is not ajar to turn on the dome light.
Put the all the wires back on one at a time to make sure only one of them lights the test light.
If it boils down to one wire and fuse 8 turns it off, leave the wire that lights the light on and put fuse 8 back in. Unhook the test light. Leave the neg bat cable unhooked.
After dark, hook up the neg bat cable. Get in the car, close the door and look for light coming from anywhere. Glove compartment, ash tray etc.
If no light you are going to have to start chasing the Light Green/ Yellow Wire from fuse 8.

Let us know and we can help chase the wiring.

Oh, and walk around outside of car and check for key hole and keyless entry pad lights.

Alternator wires?

Reply #35 –
Softtouch. It gets better there no doors on the car and all bulbs are pulled. I'm gonna get the doors on hopefully in a couple of days and pray my problem goes away. Even with fuse 8 pulled and test light dark the bat went dead in a few hours.
Thanks. For the help guys. I'll keep going hope to drive this thing soon
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]:ford:87 Turbo Coupe through the floor sub frame connectors, 5.8 swap Ford racing heads Harland sharp 1.6 rockers BBK shorty swap headers 2 1/2 BBk X pipe magnaflow ler's. Megasquirt 2 with 36lbs injectors on hurricane intake with 4150 throttle body.Tremec TKO 600 Quicktime blowsheild spec stage 3 clutch. 3.73 gears and still not done

Alternator wires?

Reply #36 –
Quote from: nbzimmer;364548
I am going to jump in on this quick to verify if I'm correctly understanding what I'm reading, since I am also having some kind of alternator/wiring/charging problem. 

You are saying that if I disconnect everything from the starter solenoid except the positive battery cable, and hook up a test light between the negative post and the negative cable, and the tester lights up, that this is a problem?

Yes that is a problem. It should not light up with all of the wires on either if everything in the car is turned off.
Does the light go out when you disconnect the pos cable from the solenoid?

Alternator wires?

Reply #37 –
Pretty sure the alternator smoked this afternoon. I put the car on the ground and it moved up and down the driveway.
I wanted to rinse of some body work dust and dirt from the engine bay. The car was rough to start got something wet when it did fire up I could hear the alt working hard and then it was quiet I thought it recovered. Looking at the volt meter and fan on with lights on at 1100 rmp about 11 volts shut it off the alt was to hot to touch. I'm guessing there's no thermal overload in one of them well Ill see tomorrow
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]:ford:87 Turbo Coupe through the floor sub frame connectors, 5.8 swap Ford racing heads Harland sharp 1.6 rockers BBK shorty swap headers 2 1/2 BBk X pipe magnaflow ler's. Megasquirt 2 with 36lbs injectors on hurricane intake with 4150 throttle body.Tremec TKO 600 Quicktime blowsheild spec stage 3 clutch. 3.73 gears and still not done

Alternator wires?

Reply #38 –
Quote from: nbzimmer;364548
I am going to jump in on this quick to verify if I'm correctly understanding what I'm reading, since I am also having some kind of alternator/wiring/charging problem. 

You are saying that if I disconnect everything from the starter solenoid except the positive battery cable, and hook up a test light between the negative post and the negative cable, and the tester lights up, that this is a problem?  Because I just tried it on my car and the test light fires right up.  The kicker is I just put in a new solenoid about a month ago.  Maybe it was a lemon?

totally wrong,, re-read what the original poster said.
He said he had no light with "ALL" small secondary downstream wiring off the starter relay (with the positive battery cable still connected)
He said he had power when he added "TWO" wires back onto the starter relay
He did not say he was reading "across" the battery
He is reading in series with the battery from the negative battery cable and the negative battery post via a test light.
Hope that helps so it does not feed into your troubleshooting technique and cause you to misunderstand things.

Alternator wires?

Reply #39 –
Quote from: thewestie;364587
Pretty sure the alternator smoked this afternoon. I put the car on the ground and it moved up and down the driveway.
I wanted to rinse of some body work dust and dirt from the engine bay. The car was rough to start got something wet when it did fire up I could hear the alt working hard and then it was quiet I thought it recovered. Looking at the volt meter and fan on with lights on at 1100 rmp about 11 volts shut it off the alt was to hot to touch. I'm guessing there's no thermal overload in one of them well Ill see tomorrow

remove the voltage regulator and inspect the brushes, see if he also "pulled the pin" on the granade.
when you do a new brush kit on the voltage regulator, there is a hole you are suppose to use to keep the brushes fully pushed in so you can install the regulator.  After its screwed down, you pull the small paperclip out and the brushes pop out and land on the alternator armature to complete the path for power production.  I think that basically one brush is positive and the other is negative.

if he did not install the regulator correctly, he could have caused the regulator to crash itself, or perhaps he may have the incorrect regulator.
Keep in mind if he rebuilt your alt and charged you a cheap price, ***and claimed its a new regulator, then there is a problem.
Trust me,, price the regulator for the 3g , for number will start with "F4", 1994,, as in for taurus ect.  just the regulator alone is about 160bux.

oddly enough, it appears that the cheaper non 3g regulator will bolt right on your 3g alt chassis, not sure how it would act but my gut is it would overload quickly.
yes that was a hint,, go out and find out what the first two numbers are on your voltage regulator.  If it begins with "E", then its wrong.

Alternator wires?

Reply #40 –
Ther is no # on the regulator just a name aurra? also I put a charger on the bat at 2 amps and the altenator is to hot to touch with the car off.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]:ford:87 Turbo Coupe through the floor sub frame connectors, 5.8 swap Ford racing heads Harland sharp 1.6 rockers BBK shorty swap headers 2 1/2 BBk X pipe magnaflow ler's. Megasquirt 2 with 36lbs injectors on hurricane intake with 4150 throttle body.Tremec TKO 600 Quicktime blowsheild spec stage 3 clutch. 3.73 gears and still not done

Alternator wires?

Reply #41 –
Quote from: softtouch;364573
Yes that is a problem. It should not light up with all of the wires on either if everything in the car is turned off.
Does the light go out when you disconnect the pos cable from the solenoid?

 
Sorry, I was slightly mistaken.  The positive cable on the solenoid doesn't trigger the test light (which is in series with the negative terminal).  What triggers the test light it is the smallest wire that is bolted on to the solenoid (not the one that clips on).  I don't know what that wire does but right after leaving the solenoid it splits into three wires.  What is this wire and what should I do next?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

Alternator wires?

Reply #42 –
Quote from: jcassity;364594
totally wrong,, re-read what the original poster said.
He said he had no light with "ALL" small secondary downstream wiring off the starter relay (with the positive battery cable still connected)
He said he had power when he added "TWO" wires back onto the starter relay
He did not say he was reading "across" the battery
He is reading in series with the battery from the negative battery cable and the negative battery post via a test light.
Hope that helps so it does not feed into your troubleshooting technique and cause you to misunderstand things.

 
Well thanks for the input, but I wasn't really responding to the original poster.  Also, I don't think you read what I said, because I didn't say I was reading across the battery.  My test light is in series between the negative cable and the negative post.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

Alternator wires?

Reply #43 –
Quote from: nbzimmer;364629
What triggers the test light it is the smallest wire that is bolted on to the solenoid (not the one that clips on).  I don't know what that wire does but right after leaving the solenoid it splits into three wires.  What is this wire and what should I do next?

First make sure no lights are on. Doors and trunk are closed. Take the bulb out of the under the hood light.
The EVTM shows two smaller wires on the solenoid terminal with the battery cable.
They both go to three fuse links.
Take the fuses out to see if one turns the light out.
What color are the fuse links on the wire that has the problem?
 

Alternator wires?

Reply #44 –
Quote from: thewestie;364563
Softtouch. It gets better there no doors on the car and all bulbs are pulled. I'm gonna get the doors on hopefully in a couple of days and pray my problem goes away. Even with fuse 8 pulled and test light dark the bat went dead in a few hours.
Thanks. For the help guys. I'll keep going hope to drive this thing soon

I don't understand this. That's a quick draw to not light the light, unless the battery didn't have much of a charge to begin with.
 
Quote from: thewestie;364587
Pretty sure the alternator smoked this afternoon. I put the car on the ground and it moved up and down the driveway.
I wanted to rinse of some body work dust and dirt from the engine bay. The car was rough to start got something wet when it did fire up I could hear the alt working hard and then it was quiet I thought it recovered. Looking at the volt meter and fan on with lights on at 1100 rmp about 11 volts shut it off the alt was to hot to touch. I'm guessing there's no thermal overload in one of them well Ill see tomorrow

Nope. No thermal overload
 
Quote from: thewestie;364628
Ther is no # on the regulator just a name aurra? also I put a charger on the bat at 2 amps and the altenator is to hot to touch with the car off.

Has the alternator ever worked since the 3G upgrade?
What type of current overload protection do you have between the battery and the alternator?
The stock 2.3 has a green 14 gage fuse link.
 
Can you post a link to the 3G upgrade instructions you used?