Alternator

[blok2400]

Hey i just replaced my alternator and got a jump the car would run fine with the cables still connected but a few mintues after they came off(acutally about 30 seconds) the car cuts off. Am i missing somthing? I plugged in the wire harness but there was a little connector or somthing with black tape on it that came with the new alternator. Dose that go to anything?(not to sound stupid but i cannot figure this out) IF anyone knows anything that could help please tell me.

[Mac]

I'm not sure what you got with your new alt, you have to explain it a little better.

I've never change an alt yet but I think there should be a white wire that connects sort of on top of alt. Did you hook that wire up?

[blok2400]

Well i just installed it and my battery was pretty low so i got a JUMP and that did start the car but it would not run but for a few min. and the battery light was still on well i keep saying min but it was only mere seconds and the car would shut off. i figure i shouldnt of had a problem unless i did somting wrong with the alt. because it seems the car was running off the battery with no alt. SO i would like to know if i need to attach some type of grounding wire to the alt that i missed. because i only attached the wire harness

[Mac]

Did you attach the white wire?

[blok2400]

no, not yet because i cannot find it:huh: so therefore im not sure what to do. but if i know i need one which i probaly do then that must be my problem

[Mac]

The wire should be there. It might of got stuck somewhere. It should be a white wire and it should go to a terminal on top of your alt .

[blok2400]

alright, thanks alot i hope this works. I thought that big a$$ plug was all i needed but i guess i was wrong.

[smufguy]

Originally posted by Mac
The wire should be there. It might of got stuck somewhere. It should be a white wire and it should go to a terminal on top of your alt .

Bro ur confusing the altenator with ur starter dude. The altenator does not have a white wire going to the top of it. it has one green connector with three (carb) or four (efi) prongs to it.

Dude blok, take ur car to autozone and get it checked for free.

[blok2400]

well see i see no white wire but in my case CARB i do have to ground it dont i? lol and i cant take my car to auto zone because it wont run. O well i may just sell it im so damned frustrated. So can someone set me straight, Do i need a separate grounding wire for this alternator?

[A20A1]

Did you buy the right alternator?

[blok2400]

yes the wire harness fits in perfectly it plugs right in. Im trying to explain this but i am not very good at it i guess. I bought an alternator for my year car from autozone carb dx i got exactly what i was supposed to but i still am not sure if i need to plug in anything else because if you look at a standard accord alterator there is this little wire sticking out(well connection for one) that i belive gose to a wire thats torn up and hanging down under my car:huh: duh right? but hell i keep thinking that one plug is all i need. So i do need to connect that wire to the alternator right? grounding?
thanks for your help

[Mac]

If you look at the top of your alt there should be a terminal(threads, like a screw coming out). That is where there should be a white wire with a rubber boot on it. Probally the wire you see. Is it a white wire?

[DanG86LX]

There is no grounding wire! the ground goes through alternator chassis, mounting bolts, brackets, engine block..
You fitted in the 4P connector but beside it there should be this white thick wire which goes (through a 70A fuse in engine fuse box) to the battery "+" !!! This is the charging wire. It connects to alternator through an isolated stud. Check that the hanging wire of yours goes indeed to fuse box. If is hanging there, it might have touch the engine and the 70A (#21) fuse could be gone!

[Mac]

Thank you. Finally someone agrees with me. I've been telling Blok that he needed to hook up the white wire from the beginning, then I'm told that I don't know the difference between a starter and alternator. I never said it was a ground wire.

Blok please hook the white wire to the post on top of alt, tighten down with nut and put boot on for protection. Start the car and see if it charges the battery. If it doesn't check the fuse mentioned above. Let us know how it goes.

[blok2400]

Thank you for your help. The wire is black though but i belive it is the wire. it dose not look like it is ready to be connectd yet because it is all torn at the top and has nothing connected to it so it can be bolted down its just a naked wire. damn im dumb i hooked up a grounding wire that was a waste of time. well perhaps some how the orignal wire came out and maybe i did not need a new alternator after all. well im going to try that once i get a bit of free time i will let you guys know how it gose. Thanks alot for the info

[Mac]

Ok, not sure why the wire is black. If it is the right wire it should end up at your battery like DanG said. Make sure it does before you hook it up. You can try to follow it back to the battery. Then make sure the wire has battery voltage on it. If not the fuse might be gone as DanG mentioned above. Sounds like you will have to crimp on a terminal to hook it up. I can't stress enough to make sure it is the right wire before you try and hook it up. Is it a big wire? Does it end up at the battery? Let us know how you make out and if you need any more help. Good luck.

[blok2400]

well thanks i found out the wire is just ducktaped that is why it is black:eek: but now i have a blown 70a fuse! your right. i probaly have to go to a honda place to get one again ehh?

[blok2400]

well guys i hooked it up and was almost done. So i connectd the new fuse that i blew then i prepared to connect the NEG wire to the battery and what happen SPARK! and FUSE GOSE POP. 3 doller fuse down the drain. Well i give up ive worked at this for five days and i guess i dont know anything about what im doing. I plan to take it to a auto shop when i get the money for the tow. Thanks anyway for your help guys. Heh if i knew jack about cars i would have saved some money ehh?

[Mac]

You mentioned earlier that you hooked up a ground wire. Where did you hook it up to on the alternator?

[blok2400]

well at one point i hooked up a ground wire to the same place where that charging wire gose all i did was find a blot to ground the wire on because i bought a grounding wire. but when you told me i dont need one i hooked up that wire hanging the charging wire to the same place that bolt on top of alternator and everything seemed fine until the neg battery terminal was hoooked up and spark happend

[Mac]

So on that terminal there is only the charging wire and nothing else? Did you try jumping the battery or starting the car with the ground wire attached?

[blok2400]

i did try to but i had no results

[Mac]

Also, did you get the car in this condition? (no alt. and wire taped up). Why was the charging wire taped? Make sure that there is no bare spots (insulation missing and wire exposed) that might be touching ground.

[blok2400]

well actualy i got the car 3 years ago and had no other problems untill one day i was blasting my music and my battery light came on., the next day i was heading home and my light panel went out then my horn went dead untill my whole car powerd down. So basicly yes it did come with the tape up but i cant understand why the hell it ran fine untill now and this problem occurd i guess somebody halfassed it

[Mac]

Yep, what happened was your alt went bad. They don't last forever. Any way when you had the ground wire hooked up did you get the engine running?

[blok2400]

only because i had enough juice to run it for a bit then that chargin wire hit the metal and blew that fuse. thats why i got this new alt. But even though i had it running the battery light was still on and when i took of the neg battery terminal wire the engine would turn off. But yes it did start and now with this new alt im still sol i guess maybe there is some type of short some where

[Mac]

Yep, I'm not really too sure about the inside of the alt, maybe someone else here knows more. But if you had it running with the ground on you might of screwed up the inside of your alt. Again, just a guess. You had the alt output to the battery going to ground, I would think that can't be good. I suggest to pull alt. and have it checked. If it is bad just hook up the charging wire to the post. There is no need for a ground it gets ground thru the way it mounts and the case of the alt.

[blok2400]

im afraid if i did im in a world of shit because im going to have to buy another one. i think ill sell the car ill put an ad up soon. this is too much trouble i mean at least everything else is fine on the car

[Mac]

I think the car is worth to keep. It might be a simple problem to fix. Hey alot of people learn from their mistakes, I know I do. Just chalk it up to a learning experience. With a little help you could get that sucker running. These are really good cars and with a little care they run for a long time. But don't just get another alt because I think that is what is wrong . Pull it, get it checked than get another one if it is bad. Now that you know how to hook it up it should be no sweat. You'll be a pro at changing alt when you're done.

[joebeets]

And in the meantime, buy a small battery charger--and a floating ball battery tester-- so you can keep driving with no alternator. Just charge the batt every few days. Did that for a year once.

[blok2400]

Well i am keeping it. The alt was FINE! YEY! what happend was when i hooked up the charging wire the end i put on it was so big it hit metal and caused the spark. So we spliced a smaller wire into it and taped off bare wires and now it runs fine. But my damn radio wont work anymore damn 600 doller system with no use. O well i checked the fuse and it was fine so im not sure what to do but i am glad my car runs so thats fine with me.

[Mac]

Glad to hear that you decided to keep it and got it running. See it was just a simple fix and you're back on the road again.

Now if you want we can work on that radio. If so, we will need a little more info.

Was it working before the alternator went? How do you have it hooked up? To the original plug for the original radio or did you wire it differently? Does it even light up? Describe exactly what is happening with it. Pretty sure someone here will be able to figure it out.

[blok2400]

Well i appcheiate all the help (misspell) My radio worked great before the alt problem. Its a pioneer cd player. It dose not light up like it did it also has a detachable face plate. Ive checked to see if the plate was tight and it was. I even checked the radio fuse the 30a one. Its like no power is going to it at all its very werid. Best Buy installed it for me 8 months ago they installed a new wiring harness and everything. I belive i messed somthin up when i was working on the alt.

Any help i would be thankful for alot of the stuff you guys told me saved me some money heh.

[Mac]

Ok, let's start with checking fuses. Assuming that Best Buys used the original radio wiring, you can check fuse#13 (10a) under the dash, and fuse#11 (10a) in the relay/fuse box in engine compartment. One of these would probally blow before the 30a that you already checked. See if either is blown and let us know what you find.

[blok2400]

well i checked the fuses and they are all fine. I dont know why i said 30a i did check num13 before. i checked the engine fuses too. they are all fine. so i am not sure what to do at this point. like i said it was working fine before i replaced alt. Hmm i dont know.

[Vinny]

Did you check to see if theres an inline fise on the radio itself????????? My pioneer I just bought has a small fuse in the back of the radio itself you might want to check that or ifits an older radio there may be an inline fuse on the wiring harness best buy installed. If you check there and still don't find anything blown you might want to take it back to best buy, I don't know what they have for warranty /garuntee on their installs or if you have a warranty on the radio but it might be a good idea to check with them. Just tell them your radio died and you had them install it, see if they will help you out. Best of luck let us know

[blok2400]

the fuse is on the back? how do i check that i cant even reach the back the damn cd player is in so well i have no idea on how to take it out or anything. maybe i can just feel around. ill try thanks

[Mac]

I'm not sure how Best Buys installed your radio but if you look in the back(behind the ash tray) there should be 2 screws (that go up into the back mount of the radio) that hold the radio in. If there is, loosen them and carefully pull the radio out . You might want to push from the back to get it started. You will have to lay on your back and look up. They are behind the ash tray and sort of above that box that is mounted there. Good luck.

[smufguy]

just remove the dash, its much easier and would save u a lot of headache and bruises. but its one way i would do to get to the back of the stereo cause i dont wanna be bending my back for hours trying to guess and feel what the heck im lookin for.

[blok2400]

What do you mean by remove the dash? remove the cd player or what?