please help, i fried a wire!! alt?

Coupe5oh · 05-20-2002, 03:44 PM

Im such a freakin moron

, i bought a battery for my car, no big deal, just drop it in and go, since my old one is almost 3 yrs old, well both of my cables are black and i hook it up backwards??

of course as soon as i saw smoke bye the solenoid, i knew what stupid move i just did, i checked the wires and nothing burned up too bad since it was a split second, but i hooked up and started and now my alt isnt charging? did i blow the regulator? the alternator was fine before i did this.....thanx for any help geez im stupid

so i guess i have to go pull the alt now?? help guys need to go somewhere tonight.

Coupe5oh · 05-20-2002, 04:14 PM

come on guys, can i just check voltage at the regulator plug on the alt? the wire was not fusible, i know it should be though, shoud i just try replacing the wire?

TonyzPony · 05-20-2002, 05:24 PM

I had the same problem when I was chaging a battery in the dark in the middle of the night. We accidently hooked it up backwards and it sparked. When we turned it around and got it in right the alternator was not charging and for the longest time I couldn't figure out why. It wasn't the battery or alternator or battery cables. Finally I tracked down the problem. I blew one of the fuse wires. I will bet this is your problem. You can't see that it is burnt, you have to just start grabbing wires comming off the fender and streching them a little. You will know when you find the break when you pull and strech out the wire insulation and will be able to tell the wire underneth burnt out. When I was told to check this by a senior Ford mechanic I found the wire in under 5 minutes. Just cut out the section back to good wire (about 4 or 5 inches), take it down to the auto store and tell then you want fuse wire in the same guage. Then just splice it back in with the approriate crimps. Problem solved.

Mustang_289 · 05-20-2002, 05:37 PM

You can test to see if your alt is getting charging or not. If you can start the car simply take your volt meter and touch + to power stud in back and - to ground. You should read something higher than 12 volts usually around 14.4 volts.

My guess it's one of the fuse links that come off the starter selenoid, simply follow the wires back till you see a fuse link. If it's bubbled you've blown a fuse link.

Coupe5oh · 05-20-2002, 05:37 PM

tonzpony, thanx buddy, im out there with a multimeter looking for all kinds of stuff, yes, one wire feels kinda soft where the wire under the insul might be burnt, im gonna change the cable to (red) so this dont happen again. the burnt wire says "fusible wire" on it, but there is no fuse? can i just use any stranded wire? same guage of course, to replace?

TonyzPony · 05-20-2002, 05:49 PM

I would bet you found your problem since the wire says fusible. It does have to be fuse wire you put back in though. The wire acts like a traditional fuse in that if you overload it with will burn itself out before blowing up something like your alternator.

Unit 5302 · 05-20-2002, 06:30 PM

It's really a fuseable link. Basically works like a span of wire that isn't heavy duty that will burn apart in the event it's subjected to way too much current. It doesn't work like a traditional fuse. If you want to see if it's bad, trace the wire until you find a spot you can get a connection, and find a spot on the other side of where you think you burned it out. If there is infinate resistance there, you know the wire has been broken.

05-20-2002, 03:44 PM	#1
Coupe5oh Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: SanAntonio, Tx Posts: 734	please help, i fried a wire!! alt? Im such a freakin moron , i bought a battery for my car, no big deal, just drop it in and go, since my old one is almost 3 yrs old, well both of my cables are black and i hook it up backwards?? of course as soon as i saw smoke bye the solenoid, i knew what stupid move i just did, i checked the wires and nothing burned up too bad since it was a split second, but i hooked up and started and now my alt isnt charging? did i blow the regulator? the alternator was fine before i did this.....thanx for any help geez im stupid so i guess i have to go pull the alt now?? help guys need to go somewhere tonight. __________________ Police package 5spd 90 Lx, Stock original motor, 3.27grs, BM fan, fms 10.5 clutch, D&D quadrant, and adjuster, ADS chip, 180 stat, mac cai, mac h-pipe, mac subframe connectors, ASP crank pulley, ripper shifter, 26x10.5 M/T sport pros welds. 246 hp according to analyzer Race weight: 3,120 E.t-13.57 with 26x10.50's e.t. streets. 1.88 60' mph- 99.92 mph

05-20-2002, 04:14 PM	#2
Coupe5oh Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: SanAntonio, Tx Posts: 734	come on guys, can i just check voltage at the regulator plug on the alt? the wire was not fusible, i know it should be though, shoud i just try replacing the wire? __________________ Police package 5spd 90 Lx, Stock original motor, 3.27grs, BM fan, fms 10.5 clutch, D&D quadrant, and adjuster, ADS chip, 180 stat, mac cai, mac h-pipe, mac subframe connectors, ASP crank pulley, ripper shifter, 26x10.5 M/T sport pros welds. 246 hp according to analyzer Race weight: 3,120 E.t-13.57 with 26x10.50's e.t. streets. 1.88 60' mph- 99.92 mph

05-20-2002, 05:37 PM	#5
Coupe5oh Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: SanAntonio, Tx Posts: 734	tonzpony, thanx buddy, im out there with a multimeter looking for all kinds of stuff, yes, one wire feels kinda soft where the wire under the insul might be burnt, im gonna change the cable to (red) so this dont happen again. the burnt wire says "fusible wire" on it, but there is no fuse? can i just use any stranded wire? same guage of course, to replace? __________________ Police package 5spd 90 Lx, Stock original motor, 3.27grs, BM fan, fms 10.5 clutch, D&D quadrant, and adjuster, ADS chip, 180 stat, mac cai, mac h-pipe, mac subframe connectors, ASP crank pulley, ripper shifter, 26x10.5 M/T sport pros welds. 246 hp according to analyzer Race weight: 3,120 E.t-13.57 with 26x10.50's e.t. streets. 1.88 60' mph- 99.92 mph

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05-20-2002, 05:24 PM	#3
TonyzPony Registered Member Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 4	I had the same problem when I was chaging a battery in the dark in the middle of the night. We accidently hooked it up backwards and it sparked. When we turned it around and got it in right the alternator was not charging and for the longest time I couldn't figure out why. It wasn't the battery or alternator or battery cables. Finally I tracked down the problem. I blew one of the fuse wires. I will bet this is your problem. You can't see that it is burnt, you have to just start grabbing wires comming off the fender and streching them a little. You will know when you find the break when you pull and strech out the wire insulation and will be able to tell the wire underneth burnt out. When I was told to check this by a senior Ford mechanic I found the wire in under 5 minutes. Just cut out the section back to good wire (about 4 or 5 inches), take it down to the auto store and tell then you want fuse wire in the same guage. Then just splice it back in with the approriate crimps. Problem solved.

05-20-2002, 05:37 PM	#4
Mustang_289 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 512	You can test to see if your alt is getting charging or not. If you can start the car simply take your volt meter and touch + to power stud in back and - to ground. You should read something higher than 12 volts usually around 14.4 volts. My guess it's one of the fuse links that come off the starter selenoid, simply follow the wires back till you see a fuse link. If it's bubbled you've blown a fuse link.

05-20-2002, 05:49 PM	#6
TonyzPony Registered Member Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 4	I would bet you found your problem since the wire says fusible. It does have to be fuse wire you put back in though. The wire acts like a traditional fuse in that if you overload it with will burn itself out before blowing up something like your alternator.

05-20-2002, 06:30 PM	#7
Unit 5302 Registered Member Join Date: May 1999 Posts: 5,246	It's really a fuseable link. Basically works like a span of wire that isn't heavy duty that will burn apart in the event it's subjected to way too much current. It doesn't work like a traditional fuse. If you want to see if it's bad, trace the wire until you find a spot you can get a connection, and find a spot on the other side of where you think you burned it out. If there is infinate resistance there, you know the wire has been broken.