Why is my alternator doing this?

seijirou · Dec 28, 2006

Chowder Head said:
Well I'll be damned, lol.

Now that looks like exactly what I need but just a quick question. How would I obtain that plastic piece that fits on the stator? Could I just cut the one of the new wiring harness (the one that's in the pics) and splice that on the correct wire?

Again, thanks for the info man, I owe you one.

Absolutely. Or if you prefer a new one, that link also has just the 3G stator wire plug listed for $4.50

And you're welcome, I'm glad I could help

Chowder Head · Dec 28, 2006

Hey sorry man, just one more question popped into my mind. Sorry, lol.

I was thinking about this and have no idea if it will work. Never hurts to ask, right?

Anyway, what about re-using the wiring harness I got from the company but cutting off the ends of the blue terminal (the one that's plugged into the doohickey) and the other one (which is another ground/terminal thingie) In the pics, it's the yellow wire that's on the bottom of the fat wire.

And those two wires I cut at the end, the blue and the yellow one, just splice those two onto the 2 wires that lead away from the alternator? Sorry if it sounds somewhat confusing, I could try to reword if it's tricky.

Do you think that might work? I have two sets of the new wiring harness since I fried the previous alternator so if worse comes to worst and I screw up one, there's always the other one to fall back on.

Think it's possible to do this? Or am I just speculating?

Thank you again!

seijirou · Dec 29, 2006

Chowder Head said:
Hey sorry man, just one more question popped into my mind. Sorry, lol.

I was thinking about this and have no idea if it will work. Never hurts to ask, right?

Anyway, what about re-using the wiring harness I got from the company but cutting off the ends of the blue terminal (the one that's plugged into the doohickey) and the other one (which is another ground/terminal thingie) In the pics, it's the yellow wire that's on the bottom of the fat wire.

And those two wires I cut at the end, the blue and the yellow one, just splice those two onto the 2 wires that lead away from the alternator? Sorry if it sounds somewhat confusing, I could try to reword if it's tricky.

Do you think that might work? I have two sets of the new wiring harness since I fried the previous alternator so if worse comes to worst and I screw up one, there's always the other one to fall back on.

Think it's possible to do this? Or am I just speculating?

Thank you again!

You're not speculating at all, you absolutely can do this. The colors aren't going to match to factory, but aslong as you know what is what, that's what matters.

Here's a link to the wiring diagram for your factory alternator.

http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/gif/large/0900823d801ddb5a.gif

On the top left you will see the box that is your alternator. Inside of it is listed the stator, rectifier, field, and regulator. The Regulator is what your plug is plugging into. If you look at the 3 wires coming off the right side of the regulator you will see the A, S, I, wire designations, which are the 3 wires of your plug.

Good luck

Chowder Head · Dec 29, 2006

Well, bad news.

Today I finished the wire job and when I completed it, I really had high hopes this would fix it, since I remember when I plugged my factory D-plug in the time before, it worked flawlessly.

But that all changed when I fired it up. Same o f'in story, except this and the last few times, the first 2 minutes of driving I can reach that "certain rpm" for it to kick in but after two minutes, that stops, leaving me no safety net. Thank god for short commutes and battery chargers. I was sure I did something right because when I was driving with battery still not appartently getting juice, the red battery light came on, which I learned from you guys that it's the green wire.

But I did notice something odd today. When I was driving home, the battery gauge was below the "N" on the "NORMAL" lettering, with the red low battery light on, and to do everything I could, I shut off my radio and AC. So I reach the house (thank god) and pop the hood, and check the voltage of the battery while it was still running. It registered 10.xx volts, basically indicating it was receiving no juice from the alternator. But when I shut the car off and then checked it again, it registered 11.xx volts. What the hell? How is that possible?

Anyway, I'm completely stumped. I was sure this would fix it but now, I have no idea.

And since pics always helps, here's two I snapped just minutes ago. I did it correctly, didn't I? And FWIW, I made sure of the connection and soldered it instead of the other methods.

Overview of entire wire base, with white/black stator plugged in.
View attachment 414183

The other two wires soldered to their respective counterparts.
View attachment 414185

So any other info, guidance, really whatever from anyone would be greatly appreciated. Because I have no idea what to do next.

Once again, thank you all for the help.

seijirou · Dec 29, 2006

Unplug your D plug, and test your yellow wire with the key off. It should be hot. The green wire should not be hot. Now turn on your ignition, and test the green wire. It should be hot. If not, if you refer back to the wiring diagram of the altenator, there is a fuse inline with that wire. A fuse or fuseable link somewhere may have burned up with the funny wiring before.

It looks like all your wiring connections are good, so make sure that all the rest of the connections in the system are good

Also it would be worth your while to have that alternator tested to make sure something on it wasn't hurt with the funny wiring.

Sorry to hear it isn't solved yet, but you're in the right direction, you'll get it!!

HISSIN50 · Dec 29, 2006

The fusible links for the alternator are in the alt's charge cable to the driver side of the PS pump. Trace the cable from the PDC and you should find the links a foot or less from the PDC.

You also have an alternator fuse in the underhood fuse box. Make sure it's good.

Good luck.

Chowder Head · Dec 29, 2006

seijirou said:
Unplug your D plug, and test your yellow wire with the key off. It should be hot. The green wire should not be hot. Now turn on your ignition, and test the green wire. It should be hot. If not, if you refer back to the wiring diagram of the altenator, there is a fuse inline with that wire. A fuse or fuseable link somewhere may have burned up with the funny wiring before.

It looks like all your wiring connections are good, so make sure that all the rest of the connections in the system are good

Also it would be worth your while to have that alternator tested to make sure something on it wasn't hurt with the funny wiring.

Sorry to hear it isn't solved yet, but you're in the right direction, you'll get it!!

How do I test if it's hot? Simply touch it? And what makes the yellow wire get hot even though the key is off with the d plug unplugged? And the green wire has a fuse at the end? I had no idea. All I kinda saw was the green and yellow wires plug into another plastic doohickey which got plugged into an area somewhere near the bottom of the fusebox, if you guys can picture it.

But anyway, just went out real quick tonight and checked the fuse for the alternator in the fuse box. It checked out fine.

So now, about the fuseable link, could you guys simplify just a tad if possible? I tracked the main fat wire until it split into two smaller ones right near the PS pump, just like HISSIN suggested but how do I check it? There isn't an actual fuse underneath the electrical tape, is there?

Thanks again.

HISSIN50 · Dec 29, 2006

Chowder Head said:
So now, about the fuseable link, could you guys simplify just a tad if possible? I tracked the main fat wire until it split into two smaller ones right near the PS pump, just like HISSIN suggested but how do I check it? There isn't an actual fuse underneath the electrical tape, is there?

Thanks again.

They are fusible links, not fuses. Links are a sacrificial piece of wire (numerically-larger gauge than the charge cable - they blow before the charge cable catches on fire if you're lucky).
You check for battery voltage/alt voltage on each side of the link. The link is like a fuse - if it blows, alternator output cannot reach the PDC/battery. This should make the amp light turn on as well. You can grope the links - feel for gooey-ness or look for a shrivelled-up link.

Separately, the alternator fuse is actually in the fuse box.

One more thing while you are hosing with this: the primary PDC connection is known to cause issues for some of us. I like to slide the cover up and remove the nut and clean the connections. You should disconnect the battery first since one of those cables has battery current flowing through it.

Good luck.

Chowder Head · Dec 30, 2006

I'll check that first thing today but what if that doesn't do it, what's the next step? If possible, I'd like to have a list of what to do so I don't do one thing then spend time waiting for another reply. If that sounds selfish in any way, I apologize. I just really want this fixed lol.

And if I could get some clarification from seijirou about the previous post, I'd also greatly appreciate that.

Sorry for asking all these questions guys, I'm just stumped.

HISSIN50 · Dec 30, 2006

Chowder Head said:
I'll check that first thing today but what if that doesn't do it, what's the next step? If possible, I'd like to have a list of what to do so I don't do one thing then spend time waiting for another reply. If that sounds selfish in any way, I apologize. I just really want this fixed lol.

And if I could get some clarification from seijirou about the previous post, I'd also greatly appreciate that.

Sorry for asking all these questions guys, I'm just stumped.

In case he's busy, I'll see if I can help a little:

The wires are not physically hot; hot = showing 12 volts with your DMM or illuminating a grounded test light.

I'll use the AIS nomenclature so we don't get color confusion:

From earlier (I think it will tie what he said back around to where you're at now):
S = stator

A = battery voltage. This wire is hot at all times. It gets power from the 'other end' (the D plug being disconnected allows it to still be hot).

I = The switch wire. It's the wire that goes to the dash (battery/amp) light. The regulator ungrounds this wire when the alternator is excited (which makes the battery light go out. When the alternator is not spinning or has no output, the regulator grounds this wire, which makes the battery light come on. This shows 12 volts with the key on only (0 volts with the key off).

So now if your wiring is all sound (I have no idea - Seijirou has been keeping tabs on that), his suggestion to make sure the 'other ends' of the connections are sound (where checking the charge-cable connection at the PDC comes into play) and considering a bench test of the alternator are good ones. I couldnt figure out what you did with your stator circuit so I gave up. You guys can ensure that it's good.

I'm sure he will chime in and help you out, but just in case I figured I'd make a useless post.

Good luck.

Chowder Head · Dec 30, 2006

Thank you for that info.

So I just went out there and before cleaning the cables at the PDC, I wanted to probe the A and the I wires with my multimeter to see what it was registering.

I didn't do the A yet but when I probed the I, which is the green one, it registered 12 volts (I recharged it this morning) with the key off. I'm guessing that's not supposed to happen? Do you think that could be causing my problems? Or it simply shows a red battery icon in the dash, so it won't have anything to do with the charging?

I'll be back out in a second testing the other wire and then cleaning the connections real good. I'd just like to throw that out there.

Thanks again.

fastranger347 · Dec 31, 2006

this is the reason that i run a gm 140 amp "one wire" from east coast auto electric, it has the same physical dimensions with the exception of the "pivot" hole in the case(wich is 3/8)that can easily be drilled to 7/16 and other than needing a 4 guage wire or heavier to the battery, its pretty much idiot proof, not to mention the better design and cooling of the gm unit

seijirou · Dec 31, 2006

Sorry Chowder, I don't have any internets at home right now so I pretty much only get on at work.

Hissin did a good job explaining what I meant I think. When a wire is hot, that means that it has power.

Your A wire, or the green wire, shouldn't have power when the key is off. Did you test for power at this wire with the D plug installed into the alternator or unplugged. If you did it with the plug plugged in, unplug it and see if you still have power.
I'm 90% sure that you should not see voltage either way, but I'm going to test that out in the morning. I'm thinking right now though that the reason you see power there now is because your voltage regulator burned up. If you havn't already, take that alternator somewhere to get tested. The fuse for this A wire by the way, is fuse position number 18 in the fuse panel on your dash.

A fuseable link is basically a thinner piece of wire inline with a thicker one. Like a fuse, the idea is that if too much current goes through the wire, the thin bit of wire will be the bit that burns up. Fusible links are notoriously unreliable though.

Why is my alternator doing this?

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