This is on my 88 TII btw

installed the FD alt as silverrotor instructions say..."Black/white wire to the top of the FD alt harness".....works fine for a while then whammo car just dies while driving it down the street....I'm thinking maybe it has something to do with the L post (with the rubber cover over it) is touching the bottom of my intercooler, it is NOT arking I have put so extra rubber in bettween them to help out.

I have tried switching the wires on the FD alt harness and the cars starts and everything is fine. Both times I have blown a fuse it was hooked up the other way, I drove my car home with the main fuse jumpered (I know bad idea) and everything seemed fine the wires were not heating or anything.....I'm gonna be out for a while please feel free to make suggestions.

 

Uh, you typically do not see 12V arcing, but I would seriously do something about this.

Can't you reposition the terminal away from the intercooler?
I know the stock FC alternators are splined so they can be moved - maybe you can do that with the FD one?



-Ted

 

I had a similiar issue with the L post hitting the dynamic chamber on my n/a.

The Lpost has two screws, remove the upper one and loosen the bottom, swing the Lpost forward (torwards the driverside fenderwell). Then tighten the bottom one back up. I haven't had an issue since, but I'm just BARELY able to squeeze that thing in there...

 

 

if something metal touches the L-post it will arc, I've found that out the hard way a few times but when it did it never blew the main fuse.....it is possible my voltage regulator is outa wack?

well I would need to swing the post so it would be totaly horizontal... is that possible??

Also I have no Idea which way to hook up the wires......both ways work, but which way is better?

 

I have the same thing mine was arcing becuase I was stupid and thought the rubber boot and alot of tape along with raising the intercooler bolts up just a little was enough. (it was a temp fix until I got home... 1 hour away now its been sitting and ive been thinking about how to solve the issue...) Im going to definately swing out the post or as Silverotor sugested just use the post from the FC alternator. I didn't even think to swing it out. ahh well at least its an easy fix. My other alternative is to go FMIC... Takes a little more effort though.

Mine looks something like this currently.. just to help throw out some visuals for people.



and below shows how off the intercooler is from mounting without having the brackets raised.. Which will make the hood look funny when closed as it does not sit right, so don't bother to try this and just swing the L post out.



The alternators are very good though, I see 14v with everything on at night. Can't ask for any better then that.

 

I didn't test to see how far it would swing, but in theory, i suppose it could bye swung out so its completly horizontal, I moved mine so it just cleared the DC though...

 

 

Take the entire terminal off the FD alternator, it attatches at 2 points. Do the same for your old FC alternator, it comes off with one bolt. Now put that one on the FD alternator, on the one post that sticks out. Problem solved.

 

Come on people, I really feel like I'm banging my head here...

Arcing potential goes up as voltage goes up.
This is why your spark plugs are firing at over 20,000 volts.

At 12 volts, you're lucky to see any spark.
If the fuse does it's job (and it did pop), you will see no spark.
If it does spark, the fuse is not doing it's job.

I put $20 that says once you clear the intercooler safely, your electrical problems will cease to exist.

Keep in mind, if this is a Turbo II, you're SLAMMING the hood to close it, and this exert a quick spike of pressure downward onto the intercooler.  The intercooler is riding in rubber hoses and rubber bushings on each side.  If you cannot stick your finger in between the post and the intercooler, it's way too close!


-Ted

 

On my FC alternator there is only one post. No long post like the FD alternator. Maybe this is becuase its from a S4? I don't know myself..I can post a picture of it if you would like. Or maybe the previous owner was not using the proper one... but it just confused me with you saying take the "two points" from the FC alternator when I don't have two points...

 

Keep in mind, I have just DONE this, last week, so I know what I;m saying.

I said: take the big, long dual post assy off the FD alternator. The FD alt will now have one bare post. Take the terminal off the FC alternator and put it on the FD alternator. IT isn't hard. I think I had to trim off the notch on the terminal that went into the FC case, which is not there on the FD case.

 

so kevin, the FD alternator with the FC Lpost didn't mesh against anything? I might have to do that... though swinging the FD post forward worked just as well. But the alternator is in question now anyway, so i might be in a position that i have to remove it anyhow...

edit: btw, i can't remember if i ever got back to you-- but the flywheel you sent me worked great (and was the right one after 2 others i had bought that i got sent the wrong ones oops)

 

Aye sorry its a late night for me I just re-read your first post.(I miss read it, my appologies) I will go to sleep now and fix my stupidity in the morning. Thanks for bearing with me.

 

That is exactly my problem!!!!!

Ted, I totaly agree with you, just trying to cover all the bases, I'm going to try and swing the FD post outa the way first, then if that doesn't work I'll put the FC L post on. Thanks for all of your help!!!!

 

The FD post does not swing, to my knowledge. IT is anchored at 2 points to the FD alternator. This is why I took it completely off and used the FC version.

 

I see Keneth just removed one of the bolts, yeah I'll use the post from my FC alt.....

Thanks again for all the input

 

I suppose you could remove the one anchor bolt and swing the post, like kenteth...but it still wouldnt reduce the height of the post any for the turbo guys running the stock TMIC. So the general rule should probably be to replace the post altogether.

 

\\good point

 

Just some info I found while swapping to the FC post...... When you decide swap to the FC alternator post be careful. I know I was stupid with what I did. ( I snapped the post off from tightening it.)

1. You have to grind down the plastic nub on the FC alternator post a little to get it to seat all the way down without wanting to piviot. If you grind it too far down then it will need to be tightened down too much, which is what happened to me.. so take it down a little bit, and try it.. and a little bit, try it... until you get it just right.

If you take it too far down then you will have to tighten it too much which will snap the FD alternator post!(If your not careful like myself.) Watch out for this I did it, and it wasn't a fun fix...

2. If you snap it, don't bother trying to get the L post from the FC alternator it was not quite the same size. (At least on mine it wasn't who know's if the previous owner put something else on here. It looked stock... I ended up using a small tac (sp?) weld and it held up nicely. So I put a little extra strength expoxy on it too just becuase im paranoid of those sorts of things bouncing around.

I just wanted people to know if they do this just to be careful when tighting it down. Its not hard to take apart the alternator, but its harder to find something that will fit.. Just don't be stupid like I was.

Here's a picture of what it looks like with the FC alternator post, you can see that its way out of the way down below so your intercooler will fit just nicely back on top.. Thanks again everyone for the help, and of course Silverrotor for supplying the alternator. A nice 14v with lights and heater on when backing up.

 

buy a 100 amp main fuse for your new 100amp alt... yours is what 60, 80?


if the alt post was touching it would blow before you even started the car...