pathmaker1 Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 (edited) ok so i noticed it yesturday but its worse today. my alternator seems to have stopped working. i dont know if it is the alternator or something else. this is what i got: on the alternator where the wire to the battery hooks up is another plug on it that is just dangling. the plug is a female with 3 electrical prog recesses. it is attached to the alt at the same point that the battery is attached. also near the alternator i have a ground wire attached to the chassis but connected to nothing. the end of it is setup to be bolted to something. it is metal piece with a hole in the middle of it. i disconnected the battery while running and the truck dies immediately. dont know if that plug has something to do with it or not but worth a shot. i have not wheeled it in a while nor have i heard the alt swqueeling in the past few days it just seemed to have stopped working. i cannot find a place for this female plug. i have looked all around and it doesnt seem to go anywhere. the only place it reaches that would make any sense is the shock controller for the stock adjustable shocks that i no longer have. i think i will try again in the daylite but probably take it down to the auto parts store and get it tested. let me know if there is something i have overlooked or if anyone knows where this plug goes. Thanks Rich Edited February 27, 2008 by pathmaker1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 ok so i noticed it yesturday but its worse today. my alternator seems to have stopped working. i dont know if it is the alternator or something else. this is what i got:on the alternator where the wire to the battery hooks up is another plug on it that is just dangling. the plug is a female with 3 electrical prog recesses. it is attached to the alt at the same point that the battery is attached. also near the alternator i have a ground wire attached to the chassis but connected to nothing. the end of it is setup to be bolted to something. it is metal piece with a hole in the middle of it. i disconnected the battery while running and the truck dies immediately. dont know if that plug has something to do with it or not but worth a shot. i have not wheeled it in a while nor have i heard the alt swqueeling in the past few days it just seemed to have stopped working. i cannot find a place for this female plug. i have looked all around and it doesnt seem to go anywhere. the only place it reaches that would make any sense is the shock controller for the stock adjustable shocks that i no longer have. i think i will try again in the daylite but probably take it down to the auto parts store and get it tested. let me know if there is something i have overlooked or if anyone knows where this plug goes. Thanks Rich i am trying to get a visual of all this....... but the 1 wire with the little "eyelet" on it is a ground wire.... that needs to be attached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pathmaker1 Posted February 27, 2008 Author Share Posted February 27, 2008 i am trying to get a visual of all this....... but the 1 wire with the little "eyelet" on it is a ground wire.... that needs to be attached. it doesnt look like it broke off or anything and is DEFINATELY a ground wire. it is attached to the chasis with a braded flat wire. it looks like it has not been attached to anything in quite some time....no fresh metal from a bolt/nut. i did remove my intake box and modified my MAF "holder" for my cone air filter. this ground wore would be located under the stock air box bolted pretty much to the drivers side wheel well just about dead center of the wheel well. ots pretty much under the emmisions charcoal gas fume filter canister. make sense yet? i dont know if i am explaining this well at all but im trying. i dont want a remaned alt from the local auto store but i have no other options if it is bad. i got a job interview tomorrow at 4pm and assured him i have reliable transportation. wouldnt look to good if after the interview i asked him for a jump grrrr i should have ordered that 160A alternator already!!!! if i decide to go with the nissan quest 100A alt from the auto store is it pretty easy to install. i have briefly looked at the posts in here about it but not too seriously since i was planning on the 160A one that is a direct bolt on. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pathmaker1 Posted February 27, 2008 Author Share Posted February 27, 2008 btw my volt meter is only reading about 11ish amps and when i hit the brakes with my lights on my amp lite and A/T lite come on at the same time. when i let off the brakes the lights go off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 With the 2-wire plug unplugged from the alternator, the alt won't charge. Plug it back in. There's a spot on back for it. Does it look like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pathmaker1 Posted February 27, 2008 Author Share Posted February 27, 2008 i have to look at it again but the "loose" plug has 3 outlets. it is a female however. could it be a 3 outlet on mine? i have a 92 pathy v6 vg30e wd21. ill look at it in the light again tomorrow morning and see but if it could be a 3 prong let me know. ive never seen an alternator just die with no signs or sympoms such as a squeel or straining the motor. i dont know how old this alt is. it could be original for all i know. i did loose all power a few months ago but it was after bein under water for about 15 min(almost upto the window). i shut the truck down immediately to prevent hydrolocking the motor and think it was the belt slipping cause after everything dried out a couple hours later everything was back to normal. at that time i lost power steering also. like i said a few hours of it sitting and idleing it was fine. no squeels or funny sounds and my volts have always been 14+ even with all lights on(110W high beam and 4 x 100W offroad lights) and the heater fan on high with the A/C running. no engine complaints or alternator problems. Thanks for all the help guys!!!! Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pathmaker1 Posted February 27, 2008 Author Share Posted February 27, 2008 ok so i jiggled the wires going to that plug you showed 88 and it started charging. all lights got brighter and i went to about 14.5 volts which is where she usually is happy at. so my next step is to replace this plug right? should i look at a j/y or go oem from the dealer? also while fussin around that area a wire going from the "bolt on" wire on the alt got broke off. this wire is like a self ground going to the alternator itself. it goes from the area protected by a rubber boot to a small cylinder lookin thing.....almost like a resistor. seems to work with it not attached but what is this wire? cannot see it in your pic but doesnt seem like a pathy alt there....at least doesnt really look like mine. this wire seems like it would come with the alternator in that way.....like i said already going from the main wire area to the alt itself. i think its time for a new alternator soon.... Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 That's a noise supressor. It helps keep alternator whine out of your stereo speakers and reduces EMI overall from the alt's output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kittamaru Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 Personally, I say go for the Quest alternator - get a junkyard one and test it out - if it's a newish car to the scrap heap, and it was, say, rear ended or side-swiped, chances are the engine compartment has suffered little to no damage. I'm looking at doing the quest swap myself... my lil alternator isn't going to hold once I get the new headlights and an amp for my stereo plus other stuff that and after 18 years I'll be very surprised to find it still working at 100% efficiency XD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 I think my alternator is new, but I might have already killed it I can hear noise when i put the defrost on in the -20 temps, or is this normal? Don't mean to threadjack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostPath Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 I think my alternator is new, but I might have already killed it I can hear noise when i put the defrost on in the -20 temps, or is this normal? Don't mean to threadjack. If the noise is squealing, then the problem is most likely a loose belt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pathmaker1 Posted March 2, 2008 Author Share Posted March 2, 2008 ok so 88 the plug in the pic you posted may not be the problem. i was reading up on it and realised that the plug is where the brushes are in the alt to transfer the power to the battery right? well when i push really hard on the plug or shim it to one side or the other it starts charging when running(i know not the smartest thing to do but hey), i disassembled the plug(female going to battery) and everything seems in tact there. the only thing i saw in the wiring schematic is a possible fuseable link very close to the plug or is it closer to the battery? this is very frusterating since it will charge just fine untill i hit a bump.....then i gotta mess with that plug for 5-10 min to get it to charge again. i did clean out the plug and receiver of said plug with some contact cleaner and put some fresh electrical grease in the area with no benefits or changes in this situation. lemmie know what you guys think. im assuming that this is the original alt but cannot be sure b/c previous owner is a moron(but thats why i got it for $500 when it needed only a tstat to fix the overheating issue....he swore the block was cracked and engine was shot tho it didnt smoke or run rough...so his stupidity and my knowledge/common sense is my gain)!!! Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 Perhaps you could slightly bend the tabs inside the plug to either side and they would stay in contact when plugged in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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