Battery Light On after Alt Change

[Mike W]

After 187,000 miles, the alternator on my 1995 Ranger (2.3L) failed - in fact the housing cracked! Picked up a remanufactured alternator. Installation went according to plan. Started the truck up - the battery light is staying on. I checked all the connections - everything seems tight, including negative battery terminal (which I disconnected prior to doing the work). The only hiccup was that the connector on wire to the the battery connection of the alternator (the one with the bolt) arc-ed because the crimped on connector was too close to the housing. I fixed that by bending the wire away from the alternator housing. I would have put the rubber boot back on, but it rotted and cumpled in my hands. Any thoughts?

Much thanks!

 

[adsm08]

High resistance on the big cable. Or damaged wires from the original failure.

 

[Mark_88]

Did the wire arc out with the new alternator...I'd take it to have it tested...could be voltage regulator (if applicable) or the alternator was wonky to start with...wouldn't be the first time...

 

[Mike W]

Thanks for both suggestions. The wire arc was just because the crimped on eye for the back stud was too close to the body of the alternator. I am afraid it's the remanufactured unit - it's a pain in the butt to pull it out and replace it. Will try to get it tested this week.

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

Disconnect that wire from the alternator, and check continuity from the eyelet to the positive terminal. You might have melted the fusable link.

Also I know you said you checked, but check again. The small plugin in the side of the alternator is known for its bad connections, via corrosion and/or broken clip.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Sand all your grounds metal to metal in the engine bay and it never hurts to run a separate ground from batt neg to the alternator body. Pull the battery and have it checked also. The tech library has a section on testing the charging system. You want all three to be working correct as any one can destroy the other two in short order. Confirm it is charging correct before running it any amount of time.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/chargingsystem.htm Make sure it passes the load and no/load tests

 

[Mike W]

Super! Thank you. Will try this before returning the unit (although I need to remove it to continue my water pump saga). Will check the fusable link issue first - could have done that.

If this were easy, they'd call it "baseball."

 

[Explorin94]

There is also a fuse in the panel under the hood. It is a 15A fuse check it first.