I only have one question before I put everything back together:
There are two Wires ringed onto the Starter Solenoid stud where the Main Alternator Output wire would sit. Do I need to upgrade these wires or can they handle the power? Mind you, my Amp gauge has never, and will never work.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/DMC24guy/100_0755.jpg)
I got my swapped last month you should not need to upgrade them at all unless you just want to and you got some other wire in mind to make it better. With the BBK underdrive pulleys mine reads 13.8 to 14.0 when i turn on my car. I think your good to go but wait and see if anyone else has something to say about it.
turbotbird.com has detailed instructions on the swap. Very simple. I just did my install on it and I am very happy with it. 14.2 volts all the time no matter what. need help just ask further.
brian
Well guys, this is the end. The car caught fire shortly after the install. Destroyed virtually everything. This is the end of my Journey. It's just not worth living anymore.
Goodbye.
The car caught fire??
Are you going to start over?
WTF???!!!! from the alternator? i would have suggested to use welding cable for your main power wires.
I don't know what I'm going to do. Everything has just fallen apart for me. Right now I'm getting all the necessary legal paperwork together and going from there.
This long, drawn out nightmare (http://"http://youtube.com/watch?v=rwSYBMLTbWY") is finally about to come to an end. I will see to that (http://"http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/suicide") myself.
are you stoned? wtf are you talking about?
Uhhh i think someone had a oo...
Ok.... I got the fire but what actually happened? How did it catch fire? Did I miss something
Hey,,,,,,You listening,,,,?
If a bunch of just went to hell in a hand basket including your car, just back off and take a breather. to puss out like this. it people off to hear non sense like this. Your talking about a serious thing and i honestly think you need to get with people who care about you now very quickly or get help.
And,,,, dont leave us just hangin either cause you know what asshole??????? some people worry.
call if you need advise or a vent, im in the phone book.
skippy, I am too. If ya need bro, just call
Don't worry about me. I'm ok. Cars can be replaced.
I haven't been replying because I have been discussing things with my Family, taking care of the necessary paperwork, dealing with the local Authorities, etc. I'm trying to get everything in order right now, and the internet isn't my greatest priority.
I'm apologize for the lack of replies.
Still bro, if ya need call me if ya need. I'll PM you my number and I'll be up all night.
Any problem can be resolved.It always seems worse than it is.I look back on my life andsee times when I was younger that I thought I ws truly over my head,and looking back,it was nothing.Hang in there.There's always an answer,sometimes it's just a challenge to find it.
I'm sorry, but if it wasn't your "greatest priority", then what was the point of all the unneeded drama? If you had other things to deal with, why make the initial post(s) in the first place?
It sounds like no one was hurt, which is good.
However, you pretty much lost all sympathy from me by pulling your little attention-grabbing stunt.
I sure wish we knew how the car caught fire. I just installed that 3g in my T-Bird. Just saying it caught fire then nothing kinda leaves a void.... yay..... Sorry your car caught fire, could you take a few minutes and tell us why?
brian
that pretty much sums it up.
x2
So is he trying to sue you guys for telling him not to upgrade the factory alternator wiring(which is required by the way as the wiring usual caught fire with the stock 75amp alt)If so that's kinda messed.
What kind of legal action would he have against ford or anyone else on a 20yr old car?????
I noticed the drama queen hung out on the board for several hours yesterday/last night but failed to give anyone an update.
i still dont understand the "legal" perspective. Im not sure what is up with that, certainly cant have anything to do with this 3g stuff cause i dont see it being the root problem.
Maybe he means something else unrelated to cars.
All the legal paperwork pertains to the damage done to the vehicle itself. Insurance, police report, etc. I'm not suing anyone.
I never asked for, nor wanted YOUR sympathy.
Was I required to?
I think Chuck is saying that if you were so upset over it you would be likely to give an update instead of just hang around. Seems a little out of place is all.
Ok, look....
Yes, my actions have been a little erratic and irrational over the past 24 hours, but If you were to wake up and find your car smoldering, I think you would be a little freaked out too.
I apologize for the drama. It won't happen again.
Any cause to the fire yet?
It appears to have initially started at the Regulator Connector, and spread from there.
How bad is the car? Glad you are Ok
Whatever...
You come in here, stir up drama and leave it. Then you're here the next day....on the board and there are obviously people who are at least concerned if things are ok, and you don't add anything.
Personally any more I don't care. As long as no one was hurt, then that's all I care about.
Other than that I am done with you and you will probably be the first person I have ever put on "Ignore".
At the regulater? Was the car running when this happened? If it wasn't I'm not sure how this could happen.
Ask anyone who's car has burned up in their driveway overnight. If the battery is hooked up then many relays, switches, and wires still have power.
Alrighty then, I didn't know that. I thought it had to be running to get power to the regulater.
Reguardless man, as long as your ok. The car can be replaced, you can't
After installing the Alternator, I turned on the car to test everything. It fired right up. I drove it around for about 5 minutes with the Radio, A/C, and lights on. Everything checked out.
I got back home and engaged in some celebratory beverage consumption and took a nap.
When I woke up, I heard people shouting, looked out the window and saw smoke. Lots.
After the fire was taken care of, I got to look under the hood. The Regulator and plug were gone. Melted and charred beyond comprehension. I don't know how it happened. But....it did.
Owch...
Sorry about the car, Good to hear you are ok.
I'm super paranoid about doing the 3G install now. :punchballs:
Have you over dramatized this situation? If only the regulator and plug are gone then fix it.
I purchased a new Regulator plug from Checker Auto when I bought the Alternator. I didn't want to take a chance with my old Plug.
Perhaps....I should have.
Don't be paranoid about the install. Countless others have done this procedure and have had no problems. My car destroying fire is no reason not to install this much better alternator.
I've done this conversion many times before.... Never had an issue..
Exactly. I'm sure I probably erred at some point during the installation, and as a result, the car caught fire.
Like I said, everything seemed to work much better for those 5 minutes I got to enjoy that added power.
Unfortunately Now, I have to get a new car.
shiznit happens man. Getcha another Sport or XR7 then start over with a clean slate.
Maybe you weren't intended for a TC, but maybe after the insurance comes in or you get some money laying around you can fix another fox up.
Sorry bout your loss man.
Thanks for the Condolences. I don't know what car lyes ahead for me, but it won't be another Turbo Coupe. Evidently I was never meant to own one. Fate just has it out for me.
can you take some pics of the damage to save our imaginations please.
X2.I'll ask before anyone else does.....are you going to part it out?
Dude you gotta be careful howyou go about posting these little "adventures". I seriously thought the car went up like a plane crash or something...
Glad to hear its just a couple components.
A flesh wound.
im also curious as to what diagram or resource you had to initiate the 3g upgrade? I know its all after the fact but i honestly dont feel post number 2 helped you in any way.
I used the instructions over at Nato.
As for it only being a "flesh wound"....um...no. The car burned. Most of it anyway. It wasn't just a "couple of components".
Well, does your install look like the picture above? This is what I have in my car, as do many other members I'm sure. If not you could have had a wire wrong, a short or anything to cause a problem. You had aproxx 10,800 watts of energy seeking a ground just about the time you took a nap. And suddnely it found a ground, more then likely causting the fire.
Yes. I double-checked before I turned everything on. The "I","A", and "S" were all in the correct positions. I used 10 gauge wire for the Output. I used the Volt meter to check the readings of all Three wires before proceeding. I followed the NATO steps (sans the part for the AMP gauge) word for word.
two things
please post pics of the crispy critter
and
please post link of the nato reference.
I know this is not good timing but your efforts in assisting us will be helpful to those in the future.
12 GAUGE FOR THE OUTPUT,THERE'S YOUR FIRE!!!!!!!!!
I run TWO count em Two 4 GAUGE jumper cable wires off of my old 3g now 6g 130amp alt.
One to the solenoid and the other to the cars systems
(yellow splice wire).
Have had no problems in 3 years,the cables don't even get warm, ice cold under all conditions under full load.
As for the pic that fila posted,that optional wire had better be in addition to the 4gauge battery wire off of the output.
It is a MUST to upgrade those fire causing factory strands of wire off of the original alt,hell ford had a problem with them lighting up with the stock 75amp let alone a 130amp.
130amps through 12gauge wire, your nuts!!!
And this is why some people should either do research or let qualified people work on their rides!!
You'd still have a TC if you had of!!!!
this is true. the stock wires were not even adequate for the stock alternator. i burned up two pigtails with a reman from vato zone.
I have a 4 guage to the bettery and an 4 guage to the soloniod
Dominater just about said it. The fire was due to lack of research and not following directions as posted.
12ga wire from the alt to the solenoid and to power the systems?
The old stock wire is #8 or #6 or something like that.
Obviously not....I know Jeff's write up does not say to use 12ga wires for the output...
factory is 10ga
The electrical load determines how much current is drawn. If the electrical load of the car is 60 amps it doesn't matter what size the alternator is as long as it is over 60 amps. It is still going to draw just 60 amps.
That doesnt matter... it was still 12ga wire... heh.
I'm sorry, I meant 10 gauge wires. I used two 10 gauge wires and on either end, I soldered two Metal rings. I did follow those steps word for word.
Still, thats small for the aplication
per our sticky in here (electrical tech).....
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=13641&page=2
you will find this plus
honestly, the real issue here is how did the battery voltage find a ground while the car was off? perhaps insulation melting off at the harness leading to each side of the solenoid?
The factory wires are fusible links at the solenoid, aren't they? If so, I can only see this happening if a fuse wasn't used or it was fused too high for the wire. A 10 gauge run can typically handle up to around 30 amps before you'll want to go larger. With the TC's alt on the drivers side, it can probably squeak by with 60 amps per cable but may get warm. Either way, true 4 gauge (don't get ripped off by the stuff with thick insulation) is cheap insurance and can handle around 150A with the lengths used in an engine bay. With a 200A+ alt, I'd go with 2awg wire.
I use Kicker Hyperflex "1/0" myself (3/0 copper diameter) for my 130A alt and grounds...I get a whopping 14.6v at the battery, even under load, with exception of idle with my now-dead Mark8 fan drawing tons of juice (bad motor).
Like I said, I followed the directions over at NATO. I had no reason to doubt their claims that I could use 10 gauge wire...so I did. I didn't want to chance anything, so I got EVERYTHING they said to purchase. I trust the folks over there, and since that is their "official" write up on how to do the swap for a Turbo Coupe (which I owned), and since it did say to use 10 gauge wire...I did.
Is NATO's write-up wrong?
In a word, without extra fecies flinging... yes it's wrong. I would use no less then 6 guage.
Doesnt it say to use three 10ga wires, and not just one?
http://www.turbotbird.com/techinfo/3G%20Alternator/G3%20Alternator%20Install.htm
The "Third" piece of 10gauge wire I never used. That was for hooking up the AMP gauge. I did however use two pieces of 10gauge wire for the Alt. Output to the starter solenoid.
calculating cable sizes
kxLLxA / VD
k=resistance copper offers for one foot at 1 milimeter in diameter. Copper is 10.8 and this is a constant will never change unless very adverse temperatures apply (ie-maifold temps)(wonder why the o2 sensors have such a hard core insulation??)
LL=loop length. We only have a distance from the alternator of a generous estimation of 3 feet.
A= ampacity source,,ie-130amp alternator.
/VD= allowable voltage drop per foot of cable. Using 1 is very very agressive as most companies use .5 or .8 so wire costs and actual power factors are corrected along with wire designs. reducing your actual "allowable voltage drop" actually changes your wire size.
so.................
K x LL x A=
10.8 x 3 x 130 = 4212cmil
now devide this by your "allowable voltage drop". I will devide by 1. answer stays the same.
4212cmil
or 4kcmil
or 4awg
now derate this to an 80% power factor and you can use 6000cmil or 6kcmil, otherwise called 6awg.
going anything larger than 4awg is i suppose your choice.
Depending on the wire type ford supplied, wiring ampacities range like this....
10awg in "FREE AIR" is only good up to 40-107 amps
6awg in "FREE AIR" is only good up to 80-205 amps
4awg in "FREE AIR" is only good up to 105-278 amps.
its likely ford used type RHW-2 which is a mid range insulation and if this is true for all wires then it goes like this..
10awg-55amps
6awg-105amps
4awg-140amps
SO>>>>>from now on to find your wire size for both AC or DC applications,,,
multiply 10.8 x loop length x amperage and you'll come up with a big number. just move your decimal to the left three places and that is your KCMIL wire size. Deviding by any number less than 1 volt will change your wire size. (typically .5v to .8v.
references:
my memory
uglys electrical references 2002
ok,, i just read the link and i think its utter bullshiznit.
connecting three sections of 10awg to the back of the 3g.
run one lead up to the batt side of the starter solenoid
run the other two leads down into the existing harness and fabricate it in.
If what i am reading is correct, it appears hes reducing your previous ampacity rating on wiring leading up to the solenoid.
what a crock,,, "just tape up after you solder" I dont get a feeling this guy passed on professional info.
Connecting the alternator output. On a 5.0, this is easy… just run a 4 or 6 gauge wire from the output stud on the alternator to the battery terminal on the starter solenoid. Unfortunately, due to wiring differences between our cars and 5.0s, which is mainly due to the amp gauge on our cars, this is a somewhat more involved process. I am sure there are other ways to do this, but using my method does not overload any of the smaller power feed wires, and pretty much preserves the operation of the amp gauge.
[COLOR="Red"]Cut two sections of 10 gauge wire about a foot long, and a third section about two feet long.[/COLOR] Put ring terminals on one end of each, and secure to the alternator output stud. Do not over tighten this connection. [COLOR="red"]Put another ring terminal on the other end of the longer 10 gauge wire, and attach this wire to the battery stud on the starter solenoid. [/COLOR] Be sure to solder, as well as crimp the wires to the ring terminals.
Now comes the fun part. Locate the huge taped bundle of wires mid way between the alternator and the starter solenoid. This is the main wiring junction. The original output wire from the original alternator goes into this bundle. Use a knife, razor blade, etc. to cut the tape off the bundle. Inside you will find a thick yellow wire with a huge splice into several fuse links at each end. The yellow wire is the shunt wire for the amp gauge. Follow the original alternator power output wire to the splice at one end of the yellow wire. Cut the original power wire a few inches from the huge splice, and connect it to one of the two remaining 10 gauge wires from the alternator. Be sure to fully solder and tape this connection. Use a knife or razor blade to remove about ¾” length of insulation from the thick yellow wire near the same end that the alternator power wire is spliced in to. Strip some insulation from the last 10 gauge wire coming from the alternator, wind it around the bare section of the yellow wire, solder completely, and tape the connection up. Push the wires all back together, and retape the whole bundle up so it looks more or less like it did. A tie wrap around the whole mess of wires will help hold them together before you tape them up. Next, tape wrap the bundle of three 10 gauge wires with a good layer of tape, and enclose in split loom to eliminate any possibility of the wires chaffing. Note this is shown in figure five also. Plug the regulator and stator plugs into the new alternator from the bottom. Last, securely reconnect the positive battery cable. You are done! Note that if you try to skimp, and just run ONLY the original power wire only to the new alternator, you WILL overheat the wire, and possibly start a fire due to the high current output of the alternator!
Jesus.
I'm sorry to hear about your car man.
But the comments you posted as well as the little link to Suicide's definition were completely asinine. Screw you. You dont pull shiznit like that when there are obviously people around who care about you and your project. Now there is one less. Me. The bad part about it is that another TC is gone. I AM glad nobody got hurt, and I do feel your pain. I had an 88 sport burn to the ground about 5 years back, and it still hurts. But **** YOU for your little stunt.
Thats all I have to say.
*shrug* Jeff Korn wrote the article, hes one of the bigger tech guys over at nato.
Bad idea to hook the output of the alternator directly to the starter solenoid, which is hooked directly to the battery.
While this will work as long as there is no problem, there is no circuit protection if there is a short inside the alternator/regulator.
The original green wire shown in your pictures of the solenoid is a 14 gauge fuse link that was the output of the original alternator.
A fuse link is a wire that is 4 wire sizes smaller than the wire it is protecting. It has a fire proof insulation so there is no fire if the wire burns off. In this case the 14 ga fuse link would be protecting a 10 ga wire.
I read through Jeff Korns write up.
He replaces the original alternator output wire with three 10 ga. wires. Two of them go to the same place the original wire went.
These would be protected by the original fuse link.
One of them goes directly to the starter solenoid. This is bad design. This wire should have gone through a fuse or fuse link.
Yup and that's good enough for me...
Jeff is one of the most knowledgeable guys over there(teaches physics), he knows what he's doing... When I did my 3G I just added a parallel piece of 10ga I cut out of the Taurus that donated the alt...
That's exactly what I did. I had two parallel pieces of 10gauge wire with two Rings soldered on each end. I still can't figure out what caused the fire. The Most "damage" appears to be right around the Regulator on the remains of the Alternator. Like where the fire burned most intensely.
So how "bad" is the fire. You say the car was destroyed but is that over reacting?
The insurance rep. thought it could be salvaged....
We'll see.
You had no fuse or fuse link between the battery and the alternator.
If you had a short in the alternator there was nothing to open the circuit.
I don't understand.. I took a risk and hooked up a 3g on my 83 !without! running any new wires.. it worked fine for months.. I took it off to replace it with a new 1g *odd i know* Something must have been wrong with your alt.. or wiring.
At the risk of committing blasphemy, you also do not need the stator wire that he installs.
This only needed if you have an idiot light instead of an ammeter.
Doesn't hurt anything but you don't need it.
The original wiring would have worked fine (and more safely) unless you have some non stock electrical equipment you are trying to power.
why are there no pics
:stupid:
:ttiwwp:
good eye,, i never even gave that a thought.
I only wonder if he had used our sticky to do this or the short instructions on my diy link, would there have been a fire. My output is fused,, most writeups i see are not.
im sorry for busting on a reputable guy like that, the write up just seemed to be a little over complicated and lenghty as well as polluted with tecniques that made me look twice and frown.
He points out the TC is so much different from the 5.0 but in all honesty, i dont get that impression when i do a stare and compare of each evtm layout.
here is a better consolidated how to...............
still no pics? must be only a flesh wound:D
this page intentionaly left blank
Looks ok for non ammeter . Not ok for ammeter.
Jeff Korn still around? He's the first guy I talked to over the internet about fox tbirds like 10+ years ago... back when thundercoupe website was around...
ok sorry for the hi-jack... what happened here anyway? save me the 8-9 page read. Was it a 3G upgrade without the 6 gauge output wire to the solinoid?
When your car was burning did people yell "RUN DMC"?
My EVTMs are in boxes hiding from me. Can someone post the one for the 2.3s alternator wiring?
No...they yelled...."That guy's car is on fire! What should we do???"
and...
"Is he home? Maybe we should knock on his door......"
(No one ever knocked)
large as possible so you can read them(i hope)
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c73/gmby23/4bcdf08f.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c73/gmby23/6b00a979.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c73/gmby23/892c2a01.jpg
I read the write up and looked at the EVTM to see how it was run originally. The bottom line is that his write-up is unsafe.
The whole point of fuses and fusible links is to protect against a larger failure given a worst case scenario. The worst case scenario for an alternator is a full-output failure mode. 130A of juice is pumping through the system. 10AWG wires can handle 55A. So you get 165A of capacity from 3 of them. Problems arise if the resistance in all three aren't the same. If you do a poor job on the two 2-ft lengths going into the shunt wire, the third 3-ft wire going to the starter solenoid can receive over 55A. This wire is unprotected so you risk fire. Even if you do the job correctly in the first place the hands of time can corrode the other two wires and leave the unprotected third wire the primary current carrier.
If you want to get buttstuff-retentive, the two wires going directly to the shunt wire should be protected independently. If either wire begins to increase in resistance, you can exceed the ampacity of the combined 10AWG feed lines.
The risk of these failure modes are slim, but at the very least, there should be a fuse on the line going to the solenoid.
wrt the original failure. Since is happened while off, it most likely was from a short to ground due to faulty installation. I don't know of any failure mode where massive amounts of current will flow while off, except through a short to ground.
What exactly did you do. If you didn't follow the AMP gauge portion, you would only use one wire and connect it to the solenoid, soldering two ring connections.
can you fix it where it needs.??? I dont see where you mean and ive looked at the tc wiring.
the prinl of both cars is to also leave the fuse links in place except for the lead up to the solenoid where i have an actual fuse instead. I'd suggest removing them and redressing the connections before soldering/heat shrink.
I took two foot long sections of 10gauge wire. Then on the "ends" of these wires, I soldered a Ring connector. Meaning I ran TWO wires, with the ends of each spliced together, and then soldered onto Ring connectors from the Alt. Output to the Solenoid.
()<===============>()
Ring Two Wires Ring
here you go, im not really sure why someone else couldnt have posted the pics.
Ok. So you didn't really follow the instructions wrt the power wires.
If I understand the NATO write-up correctly, the original BK/O power wire isn't used. He doesn't ever mention it...so that is my assumption. If that is the case, you ran were using two 10AWG wires to the solenoid. They have a capacity of 110A.
I think it was almost certainly an installation error.
gumby posted them in post #92.
What do you mean??? He doesn't mention using the original output wire because it can't handle the charge. So he says to use two 10 gauge wires and run them from the Stud on the Alternator to the Solenoid on the car. Where did I go wrong? I had several members over at NATO write me in separate emails telling me they bypassed the part involving the Ammeter and ran the two wires like I did...with no problems.
Look, I used the exact same material I was told to in that writeup. I installed the alternator properly, and aside from the Ammeter part, I followed all the steps. I Used a New Regulator Connector specifically for the 3g. No wire was exposed. And the initial startup yielded no problems.
Couldn't this just have been some fluke? Freak accident? Bad Alternator? I know I've rag-tagged a lot of projects in the past, but I saved all the money I could to afford everything that I was told I needed to buy. No half-assing. I just refuse to believe I slipped up somewhere. (Other than possibly having too thin wires...but that's what I was told to use!)
i get what your saying. you modified your situation by running double the required wires from the alt to solenoid.
You did not run any wiring down in the actual harness (since you had no amp light application)
The write-up is saying to run
one wire from the alternator to the solenoid. The other two wires run from the alternator to each side of the yellow wire by the ammeter.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c73/gmby23/4bcdf08f.jpg
Looking at the EVTM.
Another 10AWG wire should be run into node S262
Another 10AWG wire should be run into node S261
Running two wires like you did, while unsafe, would not instantly cause the wiring to burst into flames.
Honestly, you should have just run a fused 4AWG wire from the alternator to the solenoid. The ammeter is what causes all the funny business.
I have 95A 3Gs on both of my cars and still use the factory 10AWG wire. I have a MN12 fan too, yet have had no problems. Is it optimal? No. But I am taking the risk. The only real risk is if the 20+ year old fusible link doesn't work. The wiring is still protected. Nevertheless, I am going to upgrade to fused 4AWG wiring.
I can have a 4000A 3G alternator, but if my load never goes over 50A and I have a properly fused 10AWG wire, I'm good to go safety wise.
either way ,nothing explains his fire or the cause. I still cant believe the rest of the cruel world never mentioned a fuse in line with the alt output,, what are they thinking anyway? Ill bet you yourself thought about this as you did the install.
If your gut gives you a feeling, its time to stop.
nevermind all that cause you've heard plenty of it..... i cant figure out what happend from my comfy seat in gap mills west virginia. However,, im sure if i were up front and personal with the car, or if you would post pics of the burn areas,, the alt like you said and mentioned is likely the cause.
I woudl also like to throw in a new twist,,,, something that happened to one of my customers just today ,,
Louisville kentucky has a dc power plant and some batteries exploded due to a customer not calling CTAC when he got a gut feeling he was wiring something hosed up.
What are the odds that your battery went into thermal runaway. If the amperage output of the alt was just too great for the float voltage of the batt, or perhaps the cells were low on fluid, do you think this might answer or add light on this issue?
So,,, question,,,, whats the history on your battery? whats the date tag say? whats the CA adn the CCA rating as well as group number?
The battery going into thermal runaway would be the only thing that could be a likely cause of this fire.
Take your ohm meter and see if the starter solenoid is reading resistance from the batt post and the starter post with nothing hooked up to it.
also,, did anyone say the car was cranking by itself?
The way I read it, he runs the two wires both to the S262 end of the meter shunt.
What happened to the original alternator output wire? Taped it up. Cut it off and taped it up. Or what.
Did you leave the original green and yellow wires on the solenoid?
Did you look at the voltage on the battery after you started it up?
After reading it a few more times, I agree.
but back to why the fire?
the points of wiring to the meter shunt is fine to point out but it was never wired in the first place.
ive removed that section from the EVTM and stared at it a log time ignoring the meter wiring and i dont see that to be the cause.
im thinking more along the lines of the battery but he needs to come back with a reply on my questions i asked.
OR.... did i miss something and you two are on to something?
Against the advice of some forum members, I've decided to post the last two videos of the car before the accident. The first is of me starting the car while my brother shoots. We had literally finished up the last bits of work just a few minutes prior to the video being shot.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/DMC24guy/th_100_0811.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/DMC24guy/?action=view¤t=100_0811.flv)
This final video is of me testing out the lights. Shortly after this was filmed, I took the car out for it's last drive, came back, went to sleep...and...the rest is history.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/DMC24guy/th_100_0810.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/DMC24guy/?action=view¤t=100_0810.flv)
It's very difficult to watch these.
Just fishing around for something he did not mention because maybe he didn't think it important. Or maybe something he thought was implied but not actually said in the instructions.
The instructions do say to check the voltage at the battery when you first start it up. The voltage should go to 13.9 to 14.4v if the alternator has output and is regulated.
I wanted to confirm that this was done.
If the regulator is running "wide open" the voltage can go high enough to cause damage.
im calling the ball
THERMAL RUNAWAY!
battery data and size plus electrolyte level has not been confirmed but ill bet this is it.
Senerio
alt charges a little high due to a faulty regulator (which could have been bought new prior to this upgrade)
battery has some age on it and has developed a memory
electrolyte was at or about 80%
cells cooked
car was shut off
batteries tend to recharge themselves after sitting for a while
this one continues to charge
during the drive, its possible the insulation was cooked on the blk/org jumpers from the alt to the solenoid
ground was eventually found but not until it was too late.
after shutdown and during the nap taking place, fire starts and the smell only a battery can produce (hydrogen) was detected and sometimes mistaken as a sulfur like smell.
softtouch
can you tweek that last drawing i posted to illustrate your change for the TC application? you mentioned that there is an error,, and i cant seem to figure out where it is.
There are too many variations in these cars to come up with one diagram and set of instructions fits all.
For instance your instructions say to take the yellow wire off the starter solenoid.
Compare your 2,3, 3.8 and 5.0 EVTM Charge/Power.
For 3.8 it looks good.
For 5.0 there is no yellow wire on the solenoid
For 2.3 there is a yellow wire but it is not in the charge circuit.
This is just for '87. Throw in 83-88 just too many possible variations.
DMC24guy
Revisit to this thread because.............
Did you repin your exciter plug per the instructions??????????
I'm sorry, I don't follow you. I just searched the write-up for both "exciter" and "repin" but found nothing. If you could elaborate more, I might be able to answer.
this is a good sign of getting to the bottom of what happened i hope.
booksix said that he followed the instructions that was linked in your thread. it included repin of the smaller "d" shaped connector like i have drawn up in his thread.
go look if you dont mind, we might be getting somewhere. It would e helpful if you look at your alt also.
Somehow I missed all this.
Did anybody ever tell Jeff K or NATO??
I'm guessing that what he means is moving the center wire on the stock regulator plug to the "I" position from the "S" position (in the diagram I posted in the other thread it's the light green/red stripe wire).
In that case, no. I didn't need to do that. All of the wires were already in the correct positions. I double checked that before proceeding with the installation. I verified using a voltmeter. It was as if the previous owner had already rewired everything.