alternator wiring help.

[dgomez]

soo ill start off by saying i have a s14 ka24de-t.

i replaced my alternator and kept popping fuses once hooking the battery back up. After testing the ground cable on the alternator, i came to a conclusion that i had shorted it. i then ran my own ground, tested it and its working.

well today i started feeling a great loss of power. left the car running and unhooked the positive cable from the battery, which made the car die :(
i now think im not getting power to the alternator. is it possible that when i shorted the ground, i also shorted other wires? im not too eduacated on wiring harnesses. need it running asap since its my DD.

[dgomez]

ive tested the other wires and theyre fine. only problem now is ground wire. i traced it through the wiring harness and it goes into a plug on the fusebox. when i unplugged it, it had a pinkish goo inside? is that normal?

[obsolete]

I think you supposed to disconnect the negative to test your alternator. How did you determine that you are not getting power to the alternator? did you test it with a meter?

[dgomez]

im pretty sure its the positive wire thats supposed to be disconnected.
a couple months ago my negative battery cable came loose while driving and my fusebox didnt like it at all. lol
to test it, i used a simple voltage detector where you pinch a ground, touch a positive wire and it lights up. well when i touched a positive wire using the alternator ground, it barely lights up.

[obsolete]

ive tested the other wires and theyre fine. only problem now is ground wire. i traced it through the wiring harness and it goes into a plug on the fusebox. when i unplugged it, it had a pinkish goo inside? is that normal?

ground wire from the alternator? just run it staright to a ground on the chassis.

If your alternator is good and your negative batt cable came off while driving, the car should still keep running.

[dgomez]

i ran it straight from the chasis but once again start feeling that loss of power. the thing im not sure about is the alt fuse.
do i need to complete the circuit on that fuse in order to get it working properly because grounding from the chasis wouldnt complete it?

[codyace]

You have a plug
YOu have a larger power wire (the one that has IIRC a 10mm nut on it)
You have the little ground wire with the 6mm or 8mm bolt on it.

THat's about it. Make sure your engine is grounded to the frame, and that your battery is also grounded to the frame. I like using seperate ground points to avoid any potential backfeed.

[projectRDM]

ive tested the other wires and theyre fine. only problem now is ground wire. i traced it through the wiring harness and it goes into a plug on the fusebox. when i unplugged it, it had a pinkish goo inside? is that normal?

Holy fuck. The wire you think is a ground is NOT a ground wire. Why would the ground come out of the fusebox?

The wire coming out of the fusebox bolts to the charging stud on the alternator. The ground bolts to the back side of the alternator case, then to the chassis. Two COMPLETELY different wires.

[dgomez]

oh shit. well i hooked it back up the way it goes and still popping fuses!! damnn. idk what to do

[Mikey88]

you popping the 75A fuse? and make sure you have the plastic piece on the alternator case where the positive wire goes that insulates the wire from shorting on the case if not the you pretty much have 2 grounds from your alternator...

[dgomez]

are you talking about the plastic peice that goes inbetween the alternator and plug? i specifically remember my alt missing that peice

[Mikey88]

the plastic piece in between where you bolt the positive wire to the alternator or are you bolting it straight to the stud that come out the back of the alternator with no plastic piece?

[dgomez]

had no idea there was a plastic peice that supposed to go there. thanks dude. ill try

[Mikey88]

yah look under there and check it if it aint there thats your short and thats why your poppin that fuse

[dgomez]

alright so i got the plastic peice from the junkyard and put it on. plugged it all in and no more popping fuses!!! wooo! buut sometimes frying in there and smelling really bad. not sure what it is

[Mikey88]

alright so i got the plastic peice from the junkyard and put it on. plugged it all in and no more popping fuses!!! wooo! buut sometimes frying in there and smelling really bad. not sure what it is do you see smoke??? if your seeing smoke coming from a ground wire you have a bad ground or not good enough grounds.

[dgomez]

no i dont see any smoke. it smells like burnt rubber. im thinking its my belt? maybe tightened it too hard? its too late to check it out right now but im going to see first thing in the morning

[Mikey88]

good possibility if its a rubber smell haha

[dgomez]

smell just disappeared? lol im listening to it idle right now. everything seems fine for now. just letting it warm up before i take it on a test drive. its idling a little lower then before. im taking it as a good thing though since i did a little work on the distributor and tps sensor.

[dgomez]

wow it ran great. amazing feeling to feel full power again. still gotta see how it plays out during the next couple days.. big thanks to codyace, project rdm and especially mikey88.

[codyace]

sounds good! always good to see it help others out

[Mikey88]

No problem man anytime!