Hey,

Recently replaced the alternator with a brand new one 3 weeks ago. The car was running good while I was driving to my friends house on saturday. When I try to start the car to leave the car ends up not getting power to the dash or ignition. The headlights turn on when I switch them on. What are the common issues that can cause this? I have full charge on my battery, swap out the terminals to some brand new ones. I visually checked all my battery cables they all look fine. I did some research people have said the relays go out but mine look fine. I checked all the fuses inside the car, they are all ok. Is there any main engine fuses that I should check?

 

Middle fuse link under hood blown

 

That's it exactly. Same symptoms about a month ago and the fusible link was blown. Physically it looked fine, when I swapped it for the one that controls the headlights/retractors, car started just fine.
I hate those fusible links anyways and swapped them all out for fuses. At least now I can clearly see when one is blown.

 

Instead of unsing the wired fusible links i can just use some fuses instead? What kind of fuses should i use?

 

The middle one is the main... Which should be fused somewhere a little above your alternators output. I'd go 60A and the headlight and retractor fuses ... Maybe 20 or a 30A. These fuses are just to really protect the wiring from a short or an overload from the alternator to prevent catching on fire. Use MAXI style fuses if not using the old fusible links.

 

Alright cool thanks for the info, I did some more research

I should pretty much set it up like this 30A/60A/30A


I'll post up my results later

 

Yes that's what it should look like if you retain the FB fuse holder. For a couple dollars more you could swap it for an FC fuse holder and it'll give you room for future electrical upgrades since the FB only has 3 slots and the FC has 5/6. Comes in handy when you think about stuff like a car stereo setup or an electric fan.

 

Got the car started my main link was burnt. Put in the fuse and it fired right up. The only problem now is that my car is ideling higher than before now its at 2000 rpm in idle.