Wiring Taurus Alternator In HELP

FMS sells a nice harness for that, I think you may be able to get such an animal through summit also.

Unstable Performance

Check out the useful technical threads above. Theres a nice write up in there for a 3g. Don't forget to add the 4 gage ground.

Good advice from Don. Jrichker has a great standardized post with the bare bones of the retrofit and what is needed for wiring as well.

Alternatively, For ease of install, see FFI's harness. As I recall, it loops the battery sense circuit (A terminal on the reg) as well as the Stator (S terminal) for a clean install. You run a charge cable and connect the I terminal to the accessory wire going to the alt. Cake.

Good luck.

Here's websites with pictures of the 3G installation...

See http://www.geocities.com/smithmonte/Auto/3G_130A_Alternator_Upgrade.htm - all the tech data you could ever want to know
OR
http://www.mustangcentral.net/tech/alternator.html - excellent pictures of installation

Use these sites for information on the right way to do the wiring. Some people will tell you that you can skip the wiring upgrade, but it will catch up with you sooner or later. A fire in the wiring harness is ugly and expensive.

Under no circumstances connect the two 10 gauge black/white wires to the 3G alternator. If the fuse blows in the 4 gauge wire, the two 10 gauge wires will be overloaded to the point of catching fire and burning up the wiring harness.

The secondary power ground is between the back of the intake manifold and the driver's side firewall. It is often missing or loose. It supplies ground for the alternator, A/C compressor clutch and other electrical accessories such as the gauges. Any car that has a 3G alternator needs a 4 gauge ground wire running from the block to the chassis ground where the battery pigtail ground connects.

Wiring harness parts for a DIY wiring kit:
See WWW.partsexpress.com for the fuse & fuse holder.
Fuse @ $3.90 each (need one) http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=071-952

Fuseholder @ $5.80 each (need one) http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=263-630

4 gauge black wire @ $1.25 a foot (use string to lay out routing & determine length) http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=100-196

4 gauge red wire @ $1.25 a foot (use string to lay out routing & determine length) http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=100-194

4 gauge ring crimp terminals (package of 5) $3.25. http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=095-584

3/4 “ Black heat shrink tubing, 4ft length, $3.56
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=082-058

3/4 “ Red heat shrink tubing, 4ft length, $3.56
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=082-064

Pre-fab 4 gauge cables with lugs already on the ends are available in most auto parts stores. Look for the starter switch to starter cables.

I am very careful to maintain backwards compatibility, so I did things a little different. The white/black stator wire gets the insulation stripped back about 1 1/2" in the middle of the wire & cut in the middle of the stripped area. Then a short length of white wire with a 1/4" slip on female spade connector gets spliced on to the white/black wire. Slide on enough 1/4" heat shrink tubing on the white wire to cover the solder splice you are going to make. Next all 3 wires get soldered together & the heat shrink tubing gets shrunk. When you finish, the white/black wire looks like a "Y" with 1 white arm and 1 white/black arm. I left the black/orange wires connected to the original plug and did not do anything to them. When you are done, the original plug still has all the wires connected to it and they are still functional. The extra white pigtail wire that you spliced, soldered in & covered with heat shrink tubing is just long enough to plug into the 3G without much left over.

I ran the 4 gauge wire under the front of the engine next to the 4 gauge wire for the starter power feed.
It came up the same path as the fuel injector supply lines, and gets bolted to the power output lug of the 3G alternator. The 125 amp fuse is mounted on a plastic panel bolted to the stock ignition coil mounts. One of side of the fuse has a 4 gauge wire connected to the battery side of the starter solenoid & the other to the 4 gauge power feed wire for the alternator.

I had some 1" silicone aircraft heat shield tubing that I fed the 4 gauge alternator power feed wire through and tie wrapped & clamped it in place with some aircraft cushion clamps. That provided the wire extra protection from road debris and rocks. Some heater hose could be used to do the same thing.

I have an additional 4 gauge ground running from the power steering pump mount to the common chassis ground being pointed to in the photo.

Apart from the grinding I did on the mount bracket, there wasn't much to it. Rather than just grind a notch, I ground the whole web back to the thick part of the bracket. It looks much more factory that way.

As far as the plugs on 'em go, the 3g's are pretty much standardized - one push-in plug, one single push-on wire, and one fatty wire (4-guage) that goes on the threaded post. The only other issue is that you'll probably have to grind a bit off the back of your tensioner bracket for clearance and maybe get a new bolt/washer/nut for the top hole (unless your Taurus alt has a threaded hole on top or you get crafty with a Helicoil).

Don't get cheap and try to re-use those two wimpy little main wires from the stock plug - that's only cool if you like putting out electrical fires for fun. And don't neglect to put in a fuse, either - cheap insurance to prevent the risk of expensive headaches.

You may also need to do some pulley-swappin', depending on how much larger the pulley on your 3g is compared to your 2g. The one I bought was WAY huge - so much that the stock-length belt almost didn't fit over it, and it was under-charging at idle - so I had to hunt through the core bin at the Autozone I worked at until I found a suitable donor to trade with it. Re-using the pulley from your 2g usually doesn't work unless you're lucky enough to have a just-right flat washer to put behind it as a spacer, one that isn't so thick that it doesn't leave you any threads to secure the nut to hold down the pulley. (One or two threads ain't gonna be enough to trust, the shaft has to wind up being at least flush with the top of the nut when it's tightened down.)

And lastly, wrap all of your cable in conduit, secure with zip-ties, and make VERY sure that you're not near anything hot or anything that could rub it through and cause a short.

Oh, and post pictures when you're done ... 'cause, y'know, we're all kinda nosey and always like to see what everyone else has in their engine bay.

Mods are special and shiny in their own way.