Alternator wiring short...

dodgeneonzl · Post by **dodgeneonzl** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:41 am

Alright guys, my car caught on fire yesterday in the engine bay and it freaked me out...
Anyway, i trace the problem to a wiring that runs from the alternator to somewhere but it runs under the exhaust manifold but above the axle, so basically it's hanging between the exhaust manifold and driver side axle, and it was rubbing against the axle to the point where the insulation wears off and causes a short which burns off a large area of insulation.

so..., that wire was cut somehow and now for a temporary fix i ran the wiring from the alternator cable straight to the battery and everything seems to be fine. So my question is this...
What is that cable for? Is it just a wiring btw the alternator to the battery?

Do i need to reattach the remaining wiring back to the original wire running from the alt? Or can i just connect the alt wire straight to the battery and skip the wire that was cut.
Is there a separate wiring for the starter? or does that wire help suppy supplement power to the starter?

So i cheap out and found a jumper cable running around, so i was thinking about just using that to connect from the alt straight to the battery. It's a 10gauge jumper, so i figured if i cut off both clamps that would make it act like i have double the size wiring.

So, is this ok? or am i still missing something?

nineball · Post by **nineball** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:47 am

the stock wiring goes from the battery down to the starter, and then from the starter to the alt. you will be fine to go directly from the alt to the battery and in fact this is one of the steps in doing the big3+ upgrade. i would suggest using a bigger gauge wire since you are going to be in there anyways, something 4g or bigger.

dodgeneonzl · Post by **dodgeneonzl** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 3:26 am

cool, thanks man, but i mean the wiring leaving the alt. was cut... so from what you said... then it would be the wiring from the alt. to the starter that was cut, do i need to reconnect this wire?

Basically i guess i'm just asking if the starter is only wired to the battery but not the alt. would this affect the starting of the car during cold winter?

nineball · Post by **nineball** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 10:27 am

nope. think about it - is the alt working when you are starting the car?

dodgeneonzl · Post by **dodgeneonzl** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 2:05 pm

Oh yeah, duh! lol...

Anyway, spent an hour to remove the old cable and replace with a new jumper cable. Everything seems fine so far. Thanks nineball!