Alt Trouble, wiring problem?, back from the dead, can anyone help? Options

[jcbass7]

the main wire appeared fine.. ill check it again.. when im home

how about the three wires in the plug though? im sure when the car is running each one of those should be doing a certain thing.. i need to check those but dont know what to check for..

[jcbass7]

BUMP.. i got a ride back home to work on the car.. gonna try to finish it today..

here is what ive got

the three wires plugging into the alternator are as follows

-yellow
-white
-black/red


the yellow and white are putting out 11.4 volts when the car is running and the black/red 0.09 volts.

The alt when tested from Bpost to ground is putting out 11.4


IDEAS?


EDIT:

checked the two thick white wires going to the alt and one of them was a little loose in its connection, but fixed it and still nothing.

the two white wires about 6 inches back in the harness (when disconnected from the alt) are putting out 12.4 which is what im getting on the battery right now. (with car off)

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Mar 3, 2007 - 10:45 AM

[jcbass7]

UPDATE:

IT IS DEFINATLY A SHORT...

I have a short somewhere going from positve to negative... dead short.

I checked the wires going to the trunk for the battery and those are fine (my first suspects)


so when this problem first popped up, or when the short did its damage etc.... the window switches went, the sunroof went and the gauge cluster went.

How should i go about finding the short? I'm going to test continuity while i pull each fuse and see what happens.


PS:

The only blown fuse was the PANEL fuse on the interior fuse box.

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Mar 3, 2007 - 2:08 PM

[Batman722]

the "panel" is the gauge cluster...

[lagos]

i didint read the whole thread, so bare with me...

take off your battery and your alt and have them tested at a local parts store. they do this for free.

if everything checks out, inspect the harness plug that connects to the alternator. i had a similar problem to yours. i thought it was my alt/battery but it turned out that while doing an oil change, i bumped the harness plug and one of the wires got frayed. i had to take apart the plug, and solder new wires directly to the pins inside to repair it (dont worry, its easy). after that everything was perfect

the symptoms were very similar. i would only get about 11v from the battery and 12v (at most) when running at idle.

[jcbass7]

i didint read the whole thread, so bare with me...

take off your battery and your alt and have them tested at a local parts store. they do this for free.

if everything checks out, inspect the harness plug that connects to the alternator. i had a similar problem to yours. i thought it was my alt/battery but it turned out that while doing an oil change, i bumped the harness plug and one of the wires got frayed. i had to take apart the plug, and solder new wires directly to the pins inside to repair it (dont worry, its easy). after that everything was perfect

the symptoms were very similar. i would only get about 11v from the battery and 12v (at most) when running at idle.

Alt and Battery are both tested and good.

I inspected the plug you mentioned and it checks out.
I'm getting a short somewhere though.. and I beleive that this is causing it to no work...

I have no clue how to even find the short... I hoooked up my multi meter and watched as i unplugged every fuse, relay etc... and the only one that altered the ohm reading any was the DOME fuse.. and it only affected the reading a little.. not enough to be the issue.


Any ideas on how to track down this short?

i didint read the whole thread, so bare with me...

take off your battery and your alt and have them tested at a local parts store. they do this for free.

if everything checks out, inspect the harness plug that connects to the alternator. i had a similar problem to yours. i thought it was my alt/battery but it turned out that while doing an oil change, i bumped the harness plug and one of the wires got frayed. i had to take apart the plug, and solder new wires directly to the pins inside to repair it (dont worry, its easy). after that everything was perfect

the symptoms were very similar. i would only get about 11v from the battery and 12v (at most) when running at idle.

read that again^ This problem happened after i changed my oil as well! I'm going to go inspect the plug itself much more closely and make sure its all kosher

[lagos]

take the plug apart. if you look at the female end facing you .... there is a white retainer that locks the pins in place. pull that totally out with some pliers. then youll see that each pin is held in place with a hook . lift it up with a small screw driver and pull the wire and pin out from the back. do one at a time and resolder anything that doesnt look right.

[jcbass7]

ok the plug is fine..

I made a little progress!

The short is somewhere in the 100A circuit. < it was the only fuse i couldn't remove.... so i finally unbolted the two large leads going to it. so its in that circuit somewhere.

Its after the 100A fuse and before:

-noise filter 1
-40A HTR
-Engine Main Relay
-15A stop
-40A AM1
-50A ABS
-30A Power
-30A Door
-Generator (Alternator) <three plug that goes into alt
-Integration Relay
-30A DEF
-15A Tail
-7.5A Panel

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Mar 3, 2007 - 6:06 PM

[jcbass7]

So basically the short is in the wiring between the 100A fuse and the next line of fuses and relays..

Where is the Tailight Relay located?

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Mar 3, 2007 - 6:41 PM

[lagos]

you said you relocated the battery to the trunk, right? how do you have your ground lines hooked up for that?

[jcbass7]

yes, and i tested the wires and they are all good

[jcbass7]

Could this be a faulty ignition switch? since the ignition switch goes to the alt as well... and my windows and moonroof don't work while the car is running..? as well as my cluster.

Is there a way to test my ignition switch?

[lagos]

where and how did you hook up your battery grounds?

what EXACTLY happens when you turn the key?

[jcbass7]

I have a 4gauge wire going from my battery to the engine bay where it is bolted onto the stock grounds where the battery used to be. I also upgraded these grounds to a heavier gauge.


When i turn the key, the car starts as normal, but my speedo and rpm don't work and my windows and moonroof won't work.


The reason im looking at my ignition is because all of my problems are somewhat tied into that system. The AM2 circuit.

first issue... speedo stopped working
second issue.. threw a celi code for speed sensor
third issue... windows stopped working/alt stopped charging correct/rpm gauge died

[lagos]

if the car starts, then the problem is not in your ignition.

speedo and windows not working means that you have just enough current to start the car, but not enough to operate stuff like your windows.

i know you said you had the battery tested, but how old is it?

[jcbass7]

6 months. Optima red top and i have tried two other batteries in my tests so far

Art,

do you know what voltage i should be getting on the three wires going into the alt? I get about 11 on the yellow and white and .09 on the blue/red stripe

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Mar 3, 2007 - 10:47 PM

[lagos]

no im not sure of the voltage of those. i know one of them provides a reference voltage for the regulator to use. your using the 3sgte alt, right?

so, when you relocated the battery, you ran a ground wire from the trunk, all the way to the engine bay, then did a Y, hooked up one end to the tranny and one to the body of the car?

[jcbass7]

no im not sure of the voltage of those. i know one of them provides a reference voltage for the regulator to use. your using the 3sgte alt, right?

so, when you relocated the battery, you ran a ground wire from the trunk, all the way to the engine bay, then did a Y, hooked up one end to the tranny and one to the body of the car?

Dustin is checking those voltages on his Gt right now so we will know that in a second

I am using a 5sfe alt now.. my 3s alt died a few weeks back and caught fire.... anywho i spliced the plug to make it work. (don't worry those were the first places i checked when i had these problems)


Yes, I have a 4GA wire going from the trunk to the engine bay. It is bolted to where the old negative terminal was. So it grounds to chasis, block and tranny

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Mar 3, 2007 - 10:57 PM

[lagos]

here is something you can try. test your voltage right at the battery with the car off. you should get 12v. now test it again, this time touch the 2 battery terminals, you should still get 12v. now go to the front of the car, and test the voltage again. you can use the alt power line for the positive and touch the multimeteres negative to each one of the ground bolts you hooked your cables to. if you get less then 12v... then you know there is a bad ground or issue with the battery relocation.

[lagos]

am using a 5sfe alt now.. my 3s alt died a few weeks back and caught fire.... anywho i spliced the plug to make it work. (don't worry those were the first places i checked when i had these problems)

when you put the new plug on.... did you compare the little pinout diagram sticker on the 5s alt to the 3s one? i remember that when i soldered my 5s plug on, the pinout locations were not in the same place as the 3s plug had and i had to change the order of the wires around.