3G & Wiring Help

[86GmLsCoupe]

I was cleaning my car today and opened the hood to spray some oust in the air vent and noticed the fuse that I have between the output stud and the starter solenoid was warm, melted slightly on one side and the led voltage display was blinking zero. The alt has been in the car over a year now with heavy wiring, the big 3 upgrade and so on. What I was wondering was what could have caused the overheating and melting. The side that was melted and warmest was charge cable side. I disconnected the battery, let everything cool, and checked the wiring. The charge cable side was a little loose so I don't know if that could be the cause (happened to me with the output stud once). Once I reconnected the battery I started the car and voltage was shown on both ends of the fise, but the display still showed zero. My Dad held a wrench to the alt pulley with ign on/eng off and it stuck so I don't know is that's supposed to mean the alt is toast? Also, was wondering if the display was reading zero because the alt was trying to get power from the battery. Either way, I left the neg termianl off the battery when I left since the fuse and wire seemed warm again. Any ideas? Wiring & electrical are not my strong points. Thanks

[gadget73]

loose connections make a lot of heat.

And what do you mean he held a wrench to the alternator terminal, did he short it to ground? If so, that will make stupid amounts of heat, and blow the fuse. That would be a good reason why you're not showing voltage. If the fuse is good, and the voltage comes up when you start the car (use a real voltmeter, not the stuff built into a battery terminal), don't worry about it.

[86GmLsCoupe]

The connection was pretty loose, and everything was tightened up. With the wrench he just held it beside the alternator and it stuck to it when the ignition was in the on position (supposedly a sign of a bad alt?). It's one of those New Advantage alts and it's probably less than a 1 year old. The voltage display is just showing zero now and I'm not sure if that means the alternator is trying to pull power from the battery instead of the other way around or simply the board inside the fuse holder is damaged. It used to show 12v or so and they jump up around 14.3v when the car was running, The battery tester did show voltage. I think I might have just been a dunce and let the connections get loose. When we first did my 3g, the charge cable was a little loose with the other ring terminal under it so I had a similar situation there. I'm just paranoid about electrical fires so I left the battery unhooked till I figure out what was wrong.

[gadget73]

never heard of using a wrench to detect a magnetic field as being indicative of anything, other than the fact it has a magnetic field. There is a field winding in the alternator, and with the engine not running its probably at full power. If you're concerned about it, you can pull the alternator and have it tested.

[86GmLsCoupe]

I think I'm going to retry doing the connections and make sure they are all nice and tight and just keep an eye on the wiring. I might need a new fuse holder since the one I have is acting wonky now. Right now it's sort of doubtful that it could be the alt since it's been in the car such a short amount of time and it wasn't a reman, but if I keep having the same problem I'll have it tested.