[rwalkerfla]

Before we go into this, i have to pay cash to get this fixed, unless i fix it myself.

Yesterday the battery light came on, i took the truck to auto zone to see whats wrong with some text, they took the battery out of the car and tested it, it was fine, i had a mobile mechanice take the alternator out and they tested in the store, it was perfect. Now, when i pulled into auto zone, the car just died, would not start again so i made it in time. What happened we found was that the auxilary power fuse (40) had blown, and it makes the display on the dash board read, (battery not charging), along with the battery light coming on. We replaced the fuse, and back to normal everything went. Now, after about probably 30 minutes of driving, the fuse blew again, and the display is saying ( battery not charging) and the battery light is on again. This keeps happening, and im figuring its a wiring problem or something. Can someone help me out? No insurance accident, although i thought i had insurance, so everything is cash to fix, ive pumped about 7000 so far, and altough the truck looks good again, there are mechanical problems, and im tackling them, ihave to because if i give up, ive waisted so much money. Please help if you can

 

[rwalkerfla]

let me ask you this, before all of this, i took the truck to another auto type place, and they brought there tester outside, and they tested the battery, and there computer said check alternator cable, i dont know what cable that is, but i know there is a brown cable running from the back of the alternator, to the corner of the fuse box under the hood, there are also 2 read cables connected to that same part, which the brown alternator cable is connected to. The alternator cable was getting hot everytime right away. Is this cable in the right place? Here are some photos









Here are pics of the wiring job they left me with, someone told me i might have a bare wire somewhere, but i dont know.

 

[digitalcaddie]

You should have a wire coming from the alternator and running directly to the + terminal on the battery which I don't see in your pics. I can't quite tell from the photos, but I *think* this should be your brown wire. Can someone else chime in here? If its getting hot immediately, that means there is a lot of current flowing through it which is probably not good and is why your fuse keeps blowing. Whatever you do, DON'T plug in a fuse with a rating higher than 40A. You have a problem somewhere and the fuse is doing its job...opening up when the current is larger than it should be to protect other components.

 

[ridehard]

You should have a wire coming from the alternator and running directly to the + terminal on the battery which I don't see in your pics. I can't quite tell from the photos, but I *think* this should be your brown wire. Can someone else chime in here? If its getting hot immediately, that means there is a lot of current flowing through it which is probably not good and is why your fuse keeps blowing. Whatever you do, DON'T plug in a fuse with a rating higher than 40A. You have a problem somewhere and the fuse is doing its job...opening up when the current is larger than it should be to protect other components.

. Electrical circuits need a power a ground and a load. You may be grounding outsomewhere. That would cause a fuse to blow. Check all grounds including chassis. Grounds. Make sure cinnectiins are tight. Good luck

 

[rwalkerfla]

yes, the brown wire, are you saying that the brown wire, that is attached to the back of the alternator as you can see in the pics, that the other end, should be connected to the battery terminal? If so, thats not what i have, as you can see, the brown wire is running from the back of the alternator to the fase box. Should i move it from the fuse box, to the battery terminal? Please answer

 

[rwalkerfla]

again, the battery light comes on every time i replace the auxilary fuse, and then maybe 10 min later the batter dies. We think it could be the alternator overcharging, although when tested it says its getting the right power, i was told somethinn inside the alternator could be going bad while running, causing the fuse to blow. Is it possible that the brown wire is bad? I just bought a new alternator bougt to install it, and a new fuse, and they recharged the battery at advance auto parts. They told me the brown wire should be hooked to the fusebox not the battery, but who knows.

 

[rwalkerfla]

ok, please help if you guys can, last night i installed a new alternator, and i put the brown wire from the back of the new alternator, to the red positive on the battery, and screwed it in to the post with the red battery cable. I hooked up the black wire, and got a little smoke, but it was very quick, and didnt smell, and went away. Maybe something is wrong, or maybe because the battery just had a fresh charge and the smoke was from the spark? Turned on the car, and let it idle for 20 minutes, and i didnt get the battery light on, and the car didnt die. It could take a couple drives to find out if its going to die and blow the fuse again, but the fuse is still alive. Thing is this, the brown cable from the alternator to the battery, is getting so hot you cant even touch it. Is this suppose to happen? Could it be a bad cable, or is it wired to the wrong place? There is a cable running from the battery positive , to the fuse box. Should it mount there? The guage on the wire is kinda thin, can these cables go bad? The alternator is 105 amps, or volts i idont remember, what guage wire should i have?

 

[rwalkerfla]

maybe no one knows, i feel like im just talking to myself. Well, i replace that worn out brown wire with a nice thick new red one from auto zone. I think i may have seriously found the problem, as you can see my fuse block under the hood in the pics, is not mounted at all. The casing got broken in the accident, so its just sitting there. I heard that the fuse block is a ground itself. Maybe this is the problem, what do you guys think?

 

[digitalcaddie]

I rode my bike into work today so I can't look at my truck until later to verify where the wires should go. Smoke is sign that something is definitely not connected correctly. As stated in an earlier post, grounding is critical in these vehicles so it wouldn't surprise me if the fuse block is grounded to the frame by physical contact. Will that fix all your problems? I dunno... If you keep blowing that fuse, something is wrong. I'll take a look at my truck later today and get back to you. BTW wires should not be so hot that you can't touch them. That indicates that a lot of current is flowing through that wire which shouldn't be happening. If the wire(s) continue to overheat, that can lead to big problems. You can melt the insulation off which could lead to a short circuit or the wire may just open up (break in two) like a fuse which is not good either. That's why you should not put a fuse with a larger current rating in there.

Unfortunately trying to rebuild a truck that got totaled is a hard thing to do. There are lots of complex systems in these things that all need to work together otherwise you get codes/problems/poor running vehicle. It sounds like you're close to done which is good but getting rid of the last couple gremlins may be difficult.

 

[digitalcaddie]

OK, coming off the alternator, I've got a fusible link (another safety feature) that joins another wire inside a 2"x3" red plastic box. One side of that wire goes to the positive terminal on the battery while the other side goes underneath the engine toward the passenger side, but I'm not sure where it ends up cuz I didn't have time to follow it. With the fuse panel in tact, its hard to see what's connected to what. Plastic covers just about everything and most of the wires are inside protective sheaths. So there is no direct connection to the fuse panel from the alternator that I'm aware of. I hope this helps.

If you haven't already done it, spending $10 on a haynes or chiltons manual might be useful. The procedures/diagrams in those books are pretty generic, but might be a quick way to spot some obvious problem(s). Or since you're doing a large restoration after an accident, dropping $100 into the service manual would probably be a better idea. I'm sure that manual would clearly outline what connects to what to help you with this problem, and would give you ideas/solutions to some of the other problems you've posted. And you're probably going to have other electrical issues and about the only way to fix them is by following a detailed guide like the service manual.

 

[rwalkerfla]

thanks for the help,i drove the car all yesterday for a while, and the fuse didnt blow, nor did the battery die. Now, i switched out that thin brown wire to a brand new thick red one. The new wire does get pretty warm, but not like the brown one was, and the truck ran fine all yesterday. The only thing i dont like is that it idles so low it seems like its gong to cut off , but it didnt yesterday at all. My problem i think im having is that i dont have the fuse block under the hood grounded, as you can see in the photos, its just a fuse box, with so casing over or under it at all, not is it attached to the truck body. Its just sitting there. I ordered the casing and the mouting kit, im suppose to pick it up tomarrow for 80 bucks.

This may solve some problems, im hoping. I was told by someone a long time ago if that fuse box is not grounded, or mounted, then the truck wont work.

 

[digitalcaddie]

Good luck man...it seems like you're dealing with lots of issues.