Re: Had a little fire today because of new alternator?
[Re: dodgebro]
#1498288
09/08/13 07:05 PM
09/08/13 07:05 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 15,526
Omaha Ne
TJP
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 15,526
Omaha Ne
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Quote:
Your field wires are switched.
no, they are not polarity sensitive.
I am guessing on a short in the alternator or a wire was pinched during the replacement. 
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Re: Had a little fire today because of new alternator?
[Re: Adam71Charger]
#1498289
09/08/13 07:32 PM
09/08/13 07:32 PM
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 3,001
Coram, NY
Pool Fixer
master
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master
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 3,001
Coram, NY
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Quote:
Definitely a short. You're gonna want to go through your wiring harnes and carefully look for any other wire that was affected. There wires are all tied up together and when one melts it tends to melt others that are touching it. Im going througha similiar problem right now. Start at the battery and follow the wire from the battery positive to the back of the ammeter then from the ammeter to the splice, from the splice it goes several places but take a good look at the wire that runs from the splice to the ignition switch and from the splice to the back of the alternator, and keep going from the field wires
id also look up under the dash and check for damage to wires on the inside of the bulkhead connector. i had a ballast resister move inside a loose clamp and short a wire on me once. melted it all the way back to bulkhead on engine compartment side. it melted the wire a good 3-4" inside too. when the incident occured all i did was repair what i could see. by accident i saw the inside damage months later because i was under there for another reason. i got lucky
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Re: Had a little fire today because of new alternator?
[Re: rowin4]
#1498294
09/10/13 06:51 AM
09/10/13 06:51 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 926
MICHIGAN
BB65Barracuda
super stock
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super stock
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 926
MICHIGAN
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I had a New alternator from Orielys melt down in my car because of poor workmanship on the part of the re-builder. I got to admit, they paid for a new wiring harness and replaced all of the charging system components and even paid for my Labor. But that was only after I sent them a video of the obvious damage caused by their product.  http://s198.photobucket.com/user/stinkybulldog/media/Noreilys.mp4.html
1957 Power wagon wm300 original 10.000 mile truck, 1964 dodge Polara Convertible numbers matching
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Re: Had a little fire today because of new alternator?
[Re: rowin4]
#1498296
09/11/13 02:08 PM
09/11/13 02:08 PM
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,687
Boston, MA
crocha617
OP
top fuel
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OP
top fuel
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,687
Boston, MA
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Quote:
I guess the question to ask is why did you replace the alternator? was there a problem with the alternator [did you have it checked out ] before you put a new one on? or was there a possible problem with the wiring and you thought it might be the alternator? 
Well stud connection for the battery was all corroded on spinning & I couldn't get the nut off of it. The alternator looked beatup and old and I just decided to replace it so I wouldn't get stuck at some point. I guess I should've left it alone.
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Re: Had a little fire today because of new alternator?
[Re: feets]
#1498297
09/11/13 02:58 PM
09/11/13 02:58 PM
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 28,312
Cincinnati, Ohio
Challenger 1
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 28,312
Cincinnati, Ohio
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Quote:
Quote:
I had a New alternator from Orielys melt down in my car because of poor workmanship on the part of the re-builder.
I got to admit, they paid for a new wiring harness and replaced all of the charging system components and even paid for my Labor.
But that was only after I sent them a video of the obvious damage caused by their product.
http://s198.photobucket.com/user/stinkybulldog/media/Noreilys.mp4.html
I had an alternator from AutoZone fail and burn the engine harness on my Shelby Charger. The alternator had been installed for three days.
Luckily, I had left my car unlocked. One of our techs saw the smoke and grabbed an extinguisher. He popped the hood, disconnected the battery, and put out the fire.
The car was on the top floor of the parking garage across the street from the dealership. I very nearly lost my car that day.
AZ told me to go pound sand.
I know the big chain stores sell auto parts everyday and have millions of satisfied customers, I'm not one of them.
I have been in there stores and they have nothing on display but air freshers and wimpy stuff like that. Not that I care what they display, it just caught my attention and seemed crappy? No Dorman drawers, no brake lines, nothing hardcore for the repairman.
I have known some long time counter men that have steered me in the right direction as far as parts go, or at least tried when I would ask.
The auto parts stores I'm used to have machine shops in the back and sell hardcore auto parts to the repair shops. Sure they do walk in business with the smart shade tree mechanics, but there main business is delivering auto parts to the repair shops. That's who I try to buy my parts from.
I also buy a lot of International truck parts from a long time local dealer, they are the best parts and are priced very competitively so I buy from them a lot. And when I need to know how to fix my trucks they show me in there shop. I've known them since 1983.
Recently my alternator on my 74 challenger was under performing, still working but not real well at idle.
I have 3 old ones here, that have been laying around forever. I wanted a higher output alternator and decided powermaster was for me from Summit with free shipping...because it cost close to 200 bucks!!!
I have one on my other car which I installed on my 74 to see if it would help which it did a bunch. So I bought another one, powermaster for my 74.
It does perform much better than any parts store alternator I've ever used and hopefully last longer.
I put it to the test out in Vegas where it was over 100 degrees and I drove my car 3 days in row out there idling for like a hour at time with the AC on high. The car evens idles better now with more amps out of the new alternator. I didn't want to be in Vegas with a freshly installed 35 year old used alternator and it be over 100 degrees in a black car.
I seriously doubt if I could find that kind of performance out of a chain store alternator?
The power master came with some real good directions that I believe would have helped the OP so he didn't damage his car...if he read them ahead of time. I don't think you get the detailed directions in a parts store part?
After 30+ in the repair business I still read the paperwork before I get the part out of the box.
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Re: Had a little fire today because of new alternator?
[Re: Challenger 1]
#1498298
09/11/13 04:12 PM
09/11/13 04:12 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 926
MICHIGAN
BB65Barracuda
super stock
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super stock
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 926
MICHIGAN
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When I went through my Debacle we had been going out to take the car to the proving grounds for as get together and that morning was when the alternator took a crap.
I have a shop that usually does my rebuilds and has for years, it was Saturday and Chapmans was closed so we went to Orielys.
That was the Only reason the turd was in the car to begin with.
the rest is History.
You just have to be persistent with the Corporate People.
Don't Bother with the Counter Guys, They don't even know what their own policy's are.
1957 Power wagon wm300 original 10.000 mile truck, 1964 dodge Polara Convertible numbers matching
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Re: Had a little fire today because of new alternator?
[Re: RapidRobert]
#1498300
09/12/13 09:27 AM
09/12/13 09:27 AM
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,687
Boston, MA
crocha617
OP
top fuel
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OP
top fuel
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,687
Boston, MA
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Quote:
Quote:
One of the field wires melted back from the alternator all the way to the bulkhead. Would a higher amperage alternator cause that?
(1) That would have been the blue field wire & there was a dead short to ground in/at the alt itself either a brush or brush holder or the internal field circuit inside the alt improperly making contact with the alt case (ground). (2) no
Yes it was the blue one and it appears the field connection on the alternator was taken apart before and didn't look right. It is sitting crooked but it didn't look to be touching the case but was very close. I'm thinking this was a return or something and someone messed with it. I'm pretty sure this was the problem.
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