altenator fried

[ThomS]

Well the power line was not attached right and yes it did fry my altenator. New one $ 280.00. Now still tring to get old one off and will have new one tomorrow. which bolt is the ground?

Tom: Dont forget to send a pic of where the green thing a bob goes? the green and white one I put it back where you said to, not sure yet if it is going the right direction.
Thom

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Power ground for the alternator is the big bolt that it pivots on. Lower one, I believe.

[ThomS]

That leads me two questions?

1. The power line was hooked to a bolt at the top of the altenator the bottom one is the ground right or not. ( pivot )??

2. how many bolts or screws have to come out to get the altenator off,
do I have to take out the plate that has FFS on to get this altenator off for that last screw out front??

[99mx5]

Theres 2 bolts that hold the alternator on the engine, the lower pivot bolt and the upper bolt that goes through the belt adjustment bracket. I would recommend removing the supercharger belt tensioner bracket because it will free up a lot of space to work on the alternator.

[ThomS]

OK Got the aletnator off, thank you one and all.
Now before I put the new one on tomorrow, the power wire that goes to the altenator seems to be melted atleast at the end. Are there two wires inside and should it be cleaned up or what?
Please help?

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

I guess that would depend on how much damage you did to the wire connector? The damage to the alternator will be corrected by the new one. If the insulation melted on the wire, how far back? Does the terminal look OK? Maybe a picture of the wire would help?

[ThomS]

Tom will try to send a pic but won't have a computer till tomorrow unless I can fig. out to do it from her lap top???
Anyway the wire is melted about 1" to 1 1/2 " at most. the terminal is melted out of shape where it was held from the plastic. What I mean is it hangs crooked. The metal part is not damaged. I am going to get the altenator tested today and if it is ok what other electrical damage could I of caused?

[Mathrips]

I neglected to tighten my alternator wire some time back and it arced so much it melted the bolt for the wire off the alternator and the metal end off the wire. I cut the melted end off the wire and crimped a new end on (Auto parts store). I found a used alternator and pulled the bolt out and all is well.

[Kyp J]

If the terminal crimp and wire at the crimp is discolored, it will probably result in a resistance at the crimp under high current load leading to more heat and loss of charge voltage to the battery. I would do a charge voltage test at the battery to make sure it is charging right and feel the wire at the alternator for heat ( assuming everything seems to be working when the alternator is replaced) or do as Mathrips did and crimp on a new end (cut from a scrap yard car of similar style) several inches back from the obvious damaged area using 2 layers of heat shrink insulation to cover the new crimped area. I find all kinds of good stuff at "pick-n-pull". Check other Mazda models like 323 or Protege, Kias or Ford Focus's.

[ThomS]

The altenator is tested ok and battery. must have short somewhere.
Wire was melted pretty bad and now keep blowing fuses.

[Kyp J]

The schematic I have shows the wire going from the Alt. to the 100 amp fuse, to the starter then to the battery. Physically, it goes toward the starter in the harness but is all wrapped up. It changes from white to black after the fuse. You would have to unwrap the harness from the alternator to the starter and up the the fuse block on the passenger fender to see if the insulation melted somewhere in between. That is easy for me to say since nothing is mounted on my engine right now and I can see everything at once.

Pinched the harness in something in the installation and it took awhile to break thru?

It isn't possible you swapped the +/_ at the battery is it? I don't know what that would do, if anything (except not work). The terminals are different sizes but not that much. I'm assuming the battery wasn't in the mix of things during an SC install.

By the way I was a little off on the kind of cars that use the similar engine. It was a Ford Escort not Focus. See the link below for engine usage info.

http://members.aol.com/solomiata/MX5Engine.html


Edit: I couldn't get that link to work after submitting it. It came from the Miata.net "garage" in "engines and drivetrain" section in a post titled:

"Miata 4 cyl engine guide" which seems to link from there ok.

[ThomS]

The schematic I have shows the wire going from the Alt. to the 100 amp fuse, to the starter then to the battery. Physically, it goes toward the starter in the harness but is all wrapped up. It changes from white to black after the fuse. You would have to unwrap the harness from the alternator to the starter and up the the fuse block on the passenger fender to see if the insulation melted somewhere in between. That is easy for me to say since nothing is mounted on my engine right now and I can see everything at once.

Pinched the harness in something in the installation and it took awhile to break thru?

It isn't possible you swapped the +/_ at the battery is it? I don't know what that would do, if anything (except not work). The terminals are different sizes but not that much. I'm assuming the battery wasn't in the mix of things during an SC install.

By the way I was a little off on the kind of cars that use the similar engine. It was a Ford Escort not Focus. See the link below for engine usage info.

http://members.aol.com/solomiata/MX5Engine.html


Edit: I couldn't get that link to work after submitting it. It came from the Miata.net "garage" in "engines and drivetrain" section in a post titled:

"Miata 4 cyl engine guide" which seems to link from there ok.

Kyp J
NO I do not have the battey leads switched, wish my mistake was that easy to fix. And no the battey was not in the mix. But at this point I will check any and all things. double checked they are right.
Is it possible I blew the selenoid on top of the starter?

[Kyp J]

According to the schematic, the starter is between the battery and the fuse so that shouldn't be it. The only thing after the fuse (from the battery) is the alternator wire. If you had an ohmmeter it would be a cheaper way to trouble shoot than blowing fuses. I suppose a battery operated test light would work too with the car battery disconnected. connect the battery + wire to the tester and the other side to ground and if the alternator is disconnected (good fuse in place) there shouldn't be any circuit. (High resistance or no light on a tester) If there is continuity, that would be the thing to find. Connected to the alternator and no problems, I'm not sure what you would see, but with the diodes, I don't think it would have any continuity then either. Otherwise it would drain the battery when shut off.

[ThomS]

Thanks to all for all you help. Finnaly got everthing fixed and working well. now just have to fine tune the car I think. running little fast at idle.
But supercharger is working well very well and all parts are ok. now.

[Kyp J]

So what was the story? Details!!!

Or is it in the other thread? I haven't looked there.

[ThomS]

So what was the story? Details!!!

Or is it in the other thread? I haven't looked there.

Well I hate to admit it but it was so easy to fix well I am such a dummie

I had a short alright. After the power wire that goes to the altenator was found just hanging when it touch any metal it blew the fuse. After I found it it cleaned it up and I asked lots of people in here and on miata.net,
do I just put it on the altenator and they all said yes. Well they thought they were talking to someone that new or understood this car. WRONG.
So I did that and it keep going through fuses. So I got professional help and it cost some money to fix the problem. They looked over the entire car and then looked at the altenator again and said this is not right. So they took off the power wire put in a plastic spacer and then put the power lead back on. Guess what it works. So I had you guys looking for a problem to help me fix this machine and waisted your time. I am so sorry for being so dumb.. BUt still having a code P1512.

[elerner]

So it sounds like it was shorting out on the alternator housing.

[ThomS]

Yes Sir..