What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Topic: What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working. (Read 20009 times) previous topic - next topic

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #45 – June 18, 2014, 10:37:06 PM

I pulled the whole cable out of the harness and ran a new one with a 175A molded in fuse that I pulled off a 3rd gen Escape. It has ring terminals on both ends and the length was just right.

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #46 – June 19, 2014, 06:42:58 AM

How much was that cable, what gauge wire is it, and what do I do with the other 2 links that run off the same mini harness that runs back towards the dash? Just leave them? They stay cool throughout.....

My major concern is not sizing a new fuse or link correctly. I fear I may go too large and render it useless in it's job to protect.

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #47 – June 21, 2014, 12:26:57 AM

SO........ I pulled all my wiring apart and gave it a once over. AGAIN. Bad connection at the spade terminal on the alternator. Fixed. Link still hot.... I figure it's high time I pull my engine to chassis ground off to see it up close. I didn't like it..... Went and bought new ground straps. They are GIGANTIC. 1 inch wide as opposed to the factory 3/8 in. or so. I sand down the firewall and intake connection points, put the new ground on, and replace the positive battery cable. The car started up and the wire got warm. Warmer than I'd like, but not nearly what it was.... Oh, I snapped the bolt off the starter solenoid too. Had to replace that. Now my wife understands why I keep boxes of parts. I have to install the other monster strap. I was thinking back of the passenger side head to the frame rail. I also am thinking of running 6 or 4 gauge eyelet type from the negative battery terminal to somewhere on the frame in addition to the existing one that comes out the backside of the terminal... Anyone see any issue with that?

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #48 – June 21, 2014, 10:33:40 AM

Quote from: TOM Renzo;434983

The part you are holding is not the link. The link is the actual wire link connected to that splice in your hand.

eactly.... everywhere those black blocks appear are "splices".. the wire in between the splices are the "fuse links"

what i have noticed.........
answer to earlier questions..
-voltages on the small D connector should be "about" source battery on the outter two pins and "about 7.5v on the middle.

-with your torx bit, remove the regulator, observe the length of the brushes and replace the regulator if required.
-to re-install, push the brushes back up into the regulator, the push the paper clip into the hole made in the regulator housing / brushes... bolt it back on then pull the paper clip out.

-I think you need to take all the coverings off all the wiring departing and down stream of the starter relay.
-by feel, follow each and every fuse link by hand and "feel" for an area where the wire seems to bend easy.

*typically all these fuse links are a "solid" two or three conductor" design,, not "flex" wiring like tiny hairs.

the bad thing about these fuse links are that they are in parallel with each other and with all the ring termnals connected to a source battery , a fuse link will have power at each splice point because the voltage will loop around and back feed into another fuse link.

-example, you could have a fuse link blown but it will have power at either end.... so..........

to check each fuse link do this.......... just read it carefully and you will get it and you wont spend more than 30min i promise!!!

-unhook all ring lugs at the battery side of starter relay. (one side of starter relay has batt cable and *ALL* ring lugs., other side just has starter cable)
-leave the battery cable on the stud.
-place one ring terminal of your choosing on the stud and add the nut and snug it down.
-follow ****THIS wire path **** to and after the last fuse link in this path with a stick pin for power "following the flow of water".
-wash rense and repeat on each *INDIVIDUAL* ring terminal.

you are isolating individual circuits by doing the above.

once you notice you had "power here" and "no power there", will be able to determine where the issue is. I hope you find one blown.
remember,, rape that harness wayyyyy down the line, your going to find more fuse links deeper in that same harness and like you mentioned down under the battery tray.... the covers have to come off.

jot down my number .. 304 772 3411 , can talk you through it.

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #49 – June 21, 2014, 10:41:09 AM

one day i want to omitt the fuse links with a terminal block consisting of individual physical fuses, possibly the fuses with the built in LED light indicating the fuse is blown.

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #50 – June 21, 2014, 10:47:47 AM

actually if you destroy that fuse link splice your holding, you will find that ford "lays" the wires atop each other, then the machine came in and did a "Cad Weld".

these are very high quality splice points contained inside,, i was impressed actually. Nothing we could ever do would surpass thier engineering on this aspect.

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #51 – June 21, 2014, 08:38:40 PM

I've ripped a few of these apart over the years. They ARE pretty neat. Work interfered with life today. No work on the car. I'll tackle the last bit tomorrow.

I did exactly what you said already with regards to the wiring Scott. The ONLY place that gets hot is the Iink. With the ground change the temp. decreased quite a bit. I'm gonna add the second strap, replace the one in the transmission tunnel and run a 6 gauge wire from the battery terminal for group as well.

When this happened years back the one in the transmission tunnel was left undone by the guy who tabbed my exhaust. The SAME guy who flipped my hego sensors to read the wrong banks. Remember that thread?

As far as an alternator upgrade, I've been reading about the 6g just like in my S197. Apparently it's been done according to some forums found via Google. One had a pretty detailed list of instructions to include the wiring differences between the 3g and 6g which is not much.

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #52 – June 22, 2014, 08:37:09 AM

If you want the CATS ASS alternator install a 140A Chevy Diesel Alternator and be done with it. 2 wires and a few bracket mods and presto your charging problems are over. Have a good Sunday guys.

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #53 – June 22, 2014, 09:16:33 AM

I'm still open to ideas. Tom, what years did this alternator encompass?

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #54 – June 22, 2014, 08:48:47 PM

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=gm+140+amp+alternator

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #55 – June 22, 2014, 09:44:03 PM

i agree, options options options......... these cars are not getting any younger...

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #56 – June 24, 2014, 05:17:41 PM

Well, picked up a new 1 wire alternator today from my local speed shop. Power master part #8-57140. The power wire it comes with is -- get this 8 gauge. That will not do. Nothing in the instructions concerning running any type of fusing. That won't do either. The instructions say to run the 8 gauge wire from the alt. batt terminal to either the battery or solenoid. 8 gauge, 140 amp alternator, and no safety net.......

NO. JUST NO.

I'll be ordering the PA performance 4 gauge with the maxi fuse and using that wire. The fuse this wire co.es with is a 200 amp. I was wondering if I should swap it to a 175 instead. The alternator I got load tested 158 amps @ 7500 rpm.

I also added my second ground strap today. Alternator bracket to frame.

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #57 – June 24, 2014, 06:15:51 PM

My buddies cavilier when we both knew nothing about cars came with a brand new 12 guage wire with no fuse. it always ate alternators. now i think i know why...

lots of the pre 95 chevy trucks came with beffy alts and a single 10 guage with an HD package. i never understood why they kept running and charged with dual alts.

overall, ford had their shiznit together as a whole on wiring.

id run a 200amp alt. as an alt gets loaded down, say charging a.dead battery or jumping another car, the voltage drops down and the amperage goes up.

lets pretend it pulls that 158 amps at 13.5v's. that'sa bit over 2000 watts. when its loaded down to say 12v's, now your still looking at 2000 watts, but at 177.5 amps.

stick with the 200amp fuse.

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #58 – June 24, 2014, 06:26:45 PM

Got it. I haven't really STUDIED wiring since college. 18 years and counting on a degree I've never used in a professional sense.

Now obviously I'll remove the stock charging wire. The plan is to run this new wire and also the wiring for the other 2 fusible links that redirect toward the dash from the solenoid.

That solenoid is gonna be FULL. I've noticed the Mustang one has a little arm with 2,extra posts. Might be worth getting to clean up the clutter.

What in the ....?????? Low voltage reading, yet full battery and alternator working.

Reply #59 – June 24, 2014, 09:25:55 PM

You can make that post quite easily by going to home depot and buy some bar stock in the welding department. Or tractor supply also has an assortment of bar stock. Just make a strap with 2 holes and put a stud in one hole for the extra wires. By the way a number 8 gauge wire is plenty for that alternator. But installing a heavy wire is not a waste of time. I agree it must be fused either with a link or a maxi fuse. I have actually seen a guy wire his 120 Amp alternator with a 3-o wire. I had to laugh at it and the guy really got pissed at me. Some people go overboard on wiring. Good luck. Have a good Wednesday guys.