Alternator problems on turbo cobra

[ctgreddy]

I'm trying to help out 1990jmcturbo on his turbo build and we've hit a wall and this is all that's left before we can start tuning. His alternator isn't doing a thing and we're not sure what to try next. I've verified the wiring is correct, we had 2 wires hooked up originally, pin 1 to the bulb circuit, pin 3 to the pcm wire. will not charge. Verifed pin 3 has voltage so it should be triggering on. We then tried giving the middle wire voltage as that's what's on hellions website, also no change. Tried upgrading his main cable from the alt to the battery from the 8 gauge we had to 4gauge automotive cable, still nothing. So at this point wiring has been checked and triple checked. We also checked voltage right off the alternator and it's just reading battery volts.

So he took the alternator off and had orieleys check it(its an orielys alternator) it passed their test, he then had autozone test it, also passed theres. His battery he had checked from autozone and it passed. At this point we're out of ideas. He's planning on just buying a better brand alternator but figured I'd post to see if anyone has had any other issues or if there's some other suggestions to try.

Cliff notes: verified all wiring, not charging. Tested voltage right off alternator, not charging. Had alternator and battery tested, both passed. What's left?

 

[jbou91]

How much amperage/voltage did it put out when you had it tested?

 

[ctgreddy]

How much amperage/voltage did it put out when you had it tested?

I wasn't told what amperage but I believe he said it was doing 15 volts. More than enough. Yet on the car it wasn't doing anything.

 

[tt335ci03cobra]

Sounds like it's not completing a circuit, how has it been grounded? I haven't messed with an alternator in a long while, but from the sound of this, it is not fully cycling the flow. Somewhere it is grounding out or terminating the current flow.

Is it an appropriate 160amp (or higher) alternator? Auto parts stores can sometimes get a part number slightly wrong, humans make simple mistakes from time to time.

I know you say it's wired right, maybe the wires themselves are plugged from the alt to the ports correct, but the wiring from the ports to their respective spots is incorrect, or mislabeled.

 

[ctgreddy]

Sounds like it's not completing a circuit, how has it been grounded? I haven't messed with an alternator in a long while, but from the sound of this, it is not fully cycling the flow. Somewhere it is grounding out or terminating the current flow.

Is it an appropriate 160amp (or higher) alternator? Auto parts stores can sometimes get a part number slightly wrong, humans make simple mistakes from time to time.

I know you say it's wired right, maybe the wires themselves are plugged from the alt to the ports correct, but the wiring from the ports to their respective spots is incorrect, or mislabeled.

As for the ground it just grounds thru the engine. we have the engine to chassis ground strap hooked up and I did check with a multimeter to make sure the case of the alternator was grounded and it is. He ended up buying the 200amp powermaster from american muscle and as we feared, still no charging.

as for wiring other than the main wire, there's only two. we tried hooking it up reverse and no charge and the battery light is on. so either way it wont charge. we're out of idea with a dead car that sounds bad ass but we cant do anything with.

 

[1990jmcturbo]

i found out what the issue was and its fixed! there was the old alternator wire that snipped and a new one ran for the 99 cobra alternator. i ran power back to that where it was snipped completeing the circuit. thanks!