-SHIFTY-

Hey all, I want to first introduce myself along with my ride. She is a 1987 GT with an 89 motor and trans. 5.0L 5sp H.O. I actually just got this ride, its my first and probably not my last. Been a long time stang lover........let me get to the point.

When I brought her home and popped the hood, a white puff of smoke came off my cylinoid? I thought hum...wonder what just fried. When I started her up the battery light was on. So I pulled the ground off when the car was running and she died. OK bad alternator, quick swap no biggie. Now my volt gage is only showing 8-9 (low).Once again I pull the ground off and she dies. I went ahead and put a fresh battery in it just to not strain thenew alternator.

So now a fresh battery and a fresh alt. No dash light, but LOW volts.

I think its in the wireing to the alt. My question is on the back of the alternator where the two clips connect,what wires should be hot when thekey is turned on? Does the car need to be running for the alternator wires to be hot. Outof all I have one hot one with just the key turned. I started running down my wires and found the two line fuses.I tested those infront of the fuse andgot nothing. Any tips or suggestions to try would be greatly greatly appreciated.

I want to thank you all now for the efforts on the boards, hopefully when I learn a little more I can give some back.

WhiteFoxGT

Sounds like you may have blown a fuse-able link....Did you check forresistance in the wires?

-SHIFTY-

I ran it and tested the three post that the connector hooks toon the alternator. (the one in the houseing) While the motor running NO VOLTS on any post from the. I think I may have a bad alt. Going to have it tested in the morning.

All wires are hot leaving the clyinoid, not at the alternator.

What wires are hot at the alt, and does the car have to be running or on>?

WhiteFoxGT

I can only look at 94-95 Mustang 5.0 wiring diagrams with my source, but I would assume its the same basic setup.. Heres what I got




Should be self explanitory

-SHIFTY-

Thanks man, after racing to the parts store to swap out the alts.......I didn't have any time to test the new one. Im going to have that tested tomorrow, and start there. Once I know I have a solid alt. and I know the batt. is good, I'll have to go from there. I'd rather not have to trace the wires down, but I'll probably have to. There a mess, may just put a whole new harness on it>?

Thanks for looking out man, by the way nice ride

92cobra

well let me be the first to say welcome to the forums buddy . You will find out here that there are very knowledgable people here that can help you with literally any problem. There are many people here that have built foxes and capris from the ground up, and by ground, i mean GROUND up redoing it all.

To introduce myself to you my name is zach and i have a 1991 mustang gt. Out of curiousity do you know if the alternator is draining your battery. If you put in a charged battery and then leave it alone, and then its dead, you have a draw on your battery. The alternator/voltage regulator can do really weird things to batteries.

Currently my voltage guage is all over. Sometimes she starts sometimes she doesnt etc. I just picked up a new alt, however we got like 4 inches of snow tonight, so the alt and oil change goes in tomorrow in the snow =P.

My suggestion to you would be to make sure 1 that the wire plugging into the alt is plugged in, 2 see if its the stock alternator or a 3g setup. A 3g setup is a 94-95 alternator that has 130amps and can be used if you shave the bracket a little. If you have the fan blade on the outside and can see it, you have the stock alternator, if you cant, you most likely have a 3g alt or aftermarket alt. Also like i said, see if there is a draw on the system, use a meter and check to see if theres more then 20-50 drawn while the car is off. If so then you have a drain which could be the alt or something else.

Ok, this is way to long im done haha, nice ride and good luck, back to my chili.

-SHIFTY-

Well, its a stock alt, but brand new, as well as the battery. I aslo swapped out the connectors to the alt. this morning and still not charging. I'm tracing the problem now from the cylinoid, I think its a break right beforea fusable link. I dont think I have drain. I think that puff of smoke fried a wire or the link. I'm going to dig back into it toinght when I get off work. I'm pretty sure I found a break in the wire, they are pretty old and nasty.

I have a fusable link that is about to break at one end. I don't want to bypass it since its getting power at both ends, think a good tape job will do it for now? Where can I find some fusable links??

thanks for the feedback, couple things I didn't know, and the warm welcome.

I think my and whitey found a new home

-SHIFTY-

Fixed it, faulty connection at the cylinoid.............putting 14.5 back into the battery now.

Thanks for all the help guys!

WhiteFoxGT

No problem... You can get fuseable links at any parts store...they are like generic...and usually crimped in a certain way. If I were you, I'd try towire in a megafuse with the same rating, that way it might be easier to tell if its blown ordamagednext time.