alternator issue - which wire goes where?????

[Deleted member 214]

Had to swap alternators. Ran great, now car won't start 'cause the battery is low. Want to make sure I got the right wires in the right place. The black wire with the ring terminal is a no brainer. The green and blue + black that go on the spaded lugs - which goes where? I have checked two wiring diagrams and one has the green near the ground, the other has the blue one. Help!

 

[sleepar]

Charge the battery on a plug in the wall charger a slow charge... when you do it on the car it's not good. The alt is there to run the car and maintain the battery.... as for the wireing where it goes is where it came off... find a schematic of the car and trace it back and forth but study it.... the wireing is everything to the car.

 

[Funship32]

If memory serves me correctly and if your car is indeed a 70 model with the newer (for 1970) flat pack, solid state regulator, the 2 wires (grn and blu) serve as the field wires and they are not polarity sensitive, meaning either/or you can't go wrong.

 

[WP29440SE]

If memory serves me correctly and if your car is indeed a 70 model with the newer (for 1970) flat pack, solid state regulator, the 2 wires (grn and blu) serve as the field wires and they are not polarity sensitive, meaning either/or you can't go wrong.

exactly, it does not matter

 

[Deleted member 214]

Charge the battery on a plug in the wall charger a slow charge... when you do it on the car it's not good. The alt is there to run the car and maintain the battery.... as for the wireing where it goes is where it came off... find a schematic of the car and trace it back and forth but study it.... the wireing is everything to the car.

If I knew which way they came off I wouldn't be asking, now would I...

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Charged the battery for an hour. Turned key, heard a rapid series of clicks. Starter is new mini-starter from local parts store. Bad starter???

 

[WP29440SE]

what is the voltage across the battery read?

 

[nm9stheham]

You need to charge it overnight. The clicking is a low battery symptom. Also, take the battery to a store and test it, and while at it, have the new alternator checked; they can be bad out of the box. If you have a voltmter, then a good charged battery should read about 12.6 to 12.7 volts after resting for a few hours.

As said, the green and blue/blk wires can go on either terminal.

Do you know for a fact if the old alternator was actually bad? Did a parts store test it for you? It could have been the voltage regulator instead.

 

[super-bee_ski]

Good info nm9stheham

 

[Hemi Rebel]

Typically what you will find when the harness is routed correctly is the field wires will only fit one way. One wire will be slightly longer than the other to reach the terminal that is in the 12 o clock position

 

[Funship32]

So Gregs70...what is the outcome?

 

[Deleted member 214]

Typically what you will find when the harness is routed correctly is the field wires will only fit one way. One wire will be slightly longer than the other to reach the terminal that is in the 12 o clock position

The shop ran the engine wiring harness under the intake manifold instead of along the top of the passenger side. Don't ask me why. That is part of my problem - if it was where it should have been, it probably would have been a no brainer.

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So Gregs70...what is the outcome?

Had a long day at work. Will tell you tomorrow.

 

[Deleted member 214]

Tried it again, still loud clicks. Called the shop that built the motor, the owner said enough is enough and he was going to drive an hour to my house and help out. I figured I would put my better battery back in the car and decided hell, one more try. Fired right up! Our guess is that the positive cable has a bad section somewhere and my moving it around got enough of it lined up to flow enough juice to the starter. I tried it again an hour later, fired up no problem. I plan on checking all the connections, cleaning the terminals, and oh yeah, I just found an eBay vendor with repop cables for $40 and ordered a backup.