trevmust

Alternator wire from battery melted... all the way along the wire. When I replace it will putting an inline fuse help, or should I use a different gauge wire.

Paul Bell

iTrader: (9)

Why did this happen?

trevmust

P/o put a stereo in and didn't upgrade the stock 63-66 amp alternator. Melted along the whole wire.

Paul Bell

iTrader: (9)

63 amp? What year is this Firebird?

Usually a melted wire indicates a short or severely heavy load.

When an alternator is bad, it stops putting out power, not burn up cables.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...g-threads.html

trevmust

I pulled the old wire, had like six things spliced into it. I ran a new alternator only wire, I'm running two seperate wires for the distributor and another wire I found spliced into my alternator wire.

Paul Bell

iTrader: (9)

Hullo??

trevmust

1980.
So anyways. I ran 8ga wire to the alternator with only one join in it, and two additional wires for the other two that were spliced into my old alternator wire . So now the distributor, alternator, and the third red wire have their own decdicated power source now

Paul Bell

iTrader: (9)

Usually when this happens, there was a short on the other end of the wire. All the splicing you do won't tell you where the short was.

If it was in fact a short, the fuse will blow when you apply power.

Before you start replacing and adding parts, first confirm what caused the problem.

trevmust

Runs like a champ now, pretty sure it's cuz the guy had everything running on one wire.
Found an engine harness on ecklers though. Gunna buy that when I have some dough.

y2k_ta

iTrader: (80)

Having multiple components running off what I assume was a factory wire wasn't a good idea at all. The wire gauge was more than likely too small for the current draw, and that contributed to the melting.

trevmust

8ga nicked to **** and back unprotected soldering, ect.