svo alternator and harness up in smoke HELP

[fastest4d]

Ok, the other day on the drive home I was thinking my inst cluster seemed a little dull. The next morning I hopped in the car, looked at the brightness of the light as I got in and it seemed fine, I drove it all day without an issue (daylight). The next evening as I am driving around the interior lights seemed dull again. So I parked it to look at in the morning. That morning I didn’t have time to look at it I just took off. I made it about 3 miles and the stereo turned off, and then I could barley read the clock, then it stopped running.

I opened the hood at looked at the whole thing and noticed the one of the wires on the back of the alternator burned off. (Same thing happed a few years ago). So I removed the alternator and harness and brought it home. I grabbed a new alternator (just in case) and put a new connector at the end of the wire. When I put the car back together. We jumped it. As soon as we disconnected the jumper cables the lights dimmed and it died.

So I pulled the battery and brought it home to charge, figuring it was seriously drained. After a few hours on the charger I brought the battery back to the car. I connected the Neg terminal first. When I connected the Poss. Terminal the engine bay was engulfed in a big puff of white smoke until I removed the terminal. All the smoke came from there the Alternator harness connects to the main harness.

Could someone please tell me what my electrical issues are? Why did a wire burn up and why did the harness smoke up? The battery is a 2 month old optima and the primary alt. was a known working 4 month old alternator. When I returned to the car with the harness repaired and another alternator it was a new in the box alternator. I have to have this car running. It is sitting in a parking lot right now.

Thanks in advance.

Also could someone post a pic of the back of their alternator hooked up so I can visually verify everything is/was were it should be.

Troy
85 svo

[CP86SVO]

IIRC the reason for smoking alternator wiring is basically a combination of old wires, poor contacts and wire insulation breaking down. Also, all of the charging current goes through a small connector and wire from the alternator. The connector from the wiring harness to the alternator has probably shorted out, causing your present problems. You'll probably need to replace all of the wiring, including the wiring harness connectors from the alternator and the wiring harness. Replacing the voltage regulator is probably a good idea as well. Make sure all of your grounds are good and secure too.

Better still would be to get rid of the externally regulated alternator and convert the whole charging setup to a 3G internally regulated alternator with a 4 gauge wire to the to the battery. I switched from the stock SVO alternator/external regulator to a 95 amp 3G after burning up 3 rebuilt stock alternators and new regulators and can't be happier...charges at 14.5 volts, no slow blinkers, no dim lights, no drop off in performance...and that's with a PC680 Odessey battery!

Also, in the future, connect the positive battery terminal first, then the negative afterward...IIRC something about voltage spikes...

I'm sure others will chime in to correct me if i'm missing something.

HTH WS

[kiwi]

direct short fo sure....check further into the harness if u are good on that first 2 or 3 feet from the alt....I also run an additional 10ga from the pos of the alt to the solenoid...

[NavySVO]

Also could someone post a pic of the back of their alternator hooked up so I can visually verify everything is/was were it should be.

Here you go

[TheViking]

The short answer is do as Kiwi mentioned and run a 10 guage or better wire from the alternator to the hot side of the starter solonoid. This should stop you from melting wires. I believe (but I'm not sure) that you you can then disconnect the old charging wire.

The better answer is to upgrade to a newer style internally regulated alternator as CP86SVO's mentioned. PA Performance makes several kits from 90 amps and up.

[90GTDan]

If you have the money for it I would put a 3G in, your already redoing the wiring anyway.
I put a 3G in this last summer and it is a kick butt unit! It puts out plenty of power at idle for lights, heater & rear defrost. The only time the volt meter moves is when my taurus cooling fan comes and then it just twitches. If all equipment and the cooling fan is on at idle it will drop some, but it is still better than the 65 amp unit.
Good luck repairing your harness.
Dan

[fastest4d]

thanks for the help, I have another new alternator in hand (why do i have so many new alt. lying around I have no idea) with a spare alt wire harness. since I know the chassis part of the alt harness connection is toast i am going with 2 roles of wire and a hand full of connectors.

I will probably go with the 3g set-up in the next month or so, but for now I just want the car out of the local middle school parking lot and back with me.

[fastest4d]

ok, just got back, I nipped off the plug on the chassis side, the wires looked good there. so i ran new wires from the new alt and connected them. hooked up the battery and she fired right up with no sizzle sounds, no smoke and no hesitation. Now i just need to wait for the wife to get home in an hour so i can drive it home..

Thanks for the help

[90GTDan]

Glad you got it going! Where abouts are in Washington?

[AT6svo]

and that's with a PC680 Odessey battery!

Hah! I'm not alone. That litttle battery rocks! Talk about weight savings!

Still need to do the 3G upgrade though....

Troy - glad to hear she's operational. Ford must of had an intern to assign wire gauge to current handling...

[fastest4d]

Glad you got it going! Where abouts are in Washington?

Kikrland, Washington