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Reply to "HELP!!! FIRE!!!"

Gordon Nichols posted:

Sam:    The last line of your post says; “The wire connector was not connected to the alternator.”

Please explain.  What WAS that end of the wire doing?  I see a nut on the B+ stud and the wire has a ring tab which tells me the nut must be removed before the wire is removed, so what happened?

If the nut got loose on the B+ Stud and the wire fell off, it could easily flop against metal and ground that end.  The other end of the wire goes directly to the battery bolt on the starter.  If that wire fell off at the alternator and shorted to something you get 400 amps through it and the charred remains that you posted.

Until we know more about what happened I would hesitate to suggest a stronger wire gauge.  A bigger wire certainly won’t hurt (and you must replace it anyway) but it might not be necessary.

It would also be prudent to attach an ohmeter to ground and the B+ stud before you connect a new B+ wire  to make sure it’s not shorted inside of the alternator.

Hey Gordon,

Thank you for the reply.

I recently had the car in the shop for a rear main seal replacement. I suspect the tech working on the car did not reattach the wire to the alternator. The two nuts are still in place. 

That or someone sabotaged me while at a car show. 

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