Electrical Hell

[Torque Junkie]

Saturday, I was trying to see what it was goign to take to fix the freyed ends on the wires to my Alternator and come to find out they were uninsulated and me being captain Fumble-Fingers touched the hot to the ground of the alternator, blowing a fusable link right by the starter, which is covered in grease and inside a metal pipe for heat sheilding purposes.  The most obvious dilema with this is my headlights/tailights/instrument lights/interior lights are connected to this and the fusable link being blown causes them to not work.  Soooo, becuase all of the wires down there are all old and freyed and deteriorated, I have to re-wire the whole starter and charging systems.

 

It would be relatively easy, with the exception of behind the engine, right behind and under the distributor, is a 'T' junction, where all but 3 of the wires go towards the other end, supplying power to a number of things, and the remaning 3 go to the alternator.

 

I have a vague wiring diagram in my Haynes manual, and my dad is an automotive wiring genius, so we should be ok in doing this, but what a pain!  And, after repeated de-greasings, it's still filthy down there

 

Fun, huh? Wish me luck! ???

[Kansas Kid]

Good luck man!  I can't stand to do much wiring at all, I just get frustrated really quickly.  I've always said there was a reason I didn't go into electrical engineering....  :stupid:

[Torque Junkie]

I should add that it's a good thing this happened, becuase judging by the looks of the wiring currently in place, it's not the least bit safe.  I found a good chunk of bare wire showing, and another wire which just fell off of the terminal while I was handling it (not very roughly, I might add).  So it's a good thing I can get in there and get some good, safe wiring and connections back in there.

 

Like Kansas Kid, I too didn't go into eletrical engineering becuase electronics confuses me.  Although, automotive wiring is simple enough for me to work with, and even engineer a little, but when it comes to the complex stuff like transistors and putting complex circuits together to accomplish a productive goal, I'm totally lost. :0

 

-Mike

[Guest Friz]

The best way that I've found to solve a problem such as yours, TJ, is to just take the wiring one system and one wire at a time. It is less intimidating that way. Once you do one vehicle, you will be an expert.