Top terminal to side terminal change over problems

[1987cp]

So ....... what happened to the alternator? Only thing I know of a "murdered" alternator was one that randomly shorted out its rectifier whilst installed and operating correctly, and never bothered to tell me why.

[86VickyLX]

Get a 3g, get rid of the crappy side terminal batteries and attach the grounds to their proper places.

[84GrandMarquis]

So ....... what happened to the alternator? Only thing I know of a "murdered" alternator was one that randomly shorted out its rectifier whilst installed and operating correctly, and never bothered to tell me why.

Well I say murdered since apparently my good old brother and dad so kindly "helped" by hooking up the battery.... Backwards, creating a smokey mess, while I stepped into the house for a quick second. But not to worry, since by the time I came out the battery was the correctly hooked up. Now how did I find this out? My other brother told me... Lol oh well, What's done is done

[Mercracer]

Well I say murdered since apparently my good old brother and dad so kindly "helped" by hooking up the battery.... Backwards,...

That is the ultimate voltage spike...
I would expect to find other cooked wiring and/or components down the road as a result of this.
When I originally mentioned spiking the alternator I was making reference to the often deadly voltage spike which results when you remove a cable from the battery with the engine running and then hook it back up. The old externally regulated Ford alternators were pretty resistance to damage so many people were in the habit of checking alternator function by pulling a cable and seeing if the engine stayed running. If it did, the alternator was working.
These days people kill alternators while "jumping" a battery to start another vehicle with their vehicle running. You should always have your car off when you initially hook up cables to the dead battery and then attach the ground cable last and remove it first once the other vehicle is running. If the other vehicle has a dead alternator you can cause a spike when you remove the cable with your car running because there is still a high draw.

[1987cp]

Oh, interesting. Good info there. ^^^

[Piece-it pete]

I remember checking the alternator that way, didn't know it changed, thanks.

Pete

[cld783]

side terminal batterys fuckin suck..

carry on

[84GrandMarquis]

side terminal batterys fuckin suck..

carry on

Agreed. But hey, it was free

[1990LTD]

side terminal batterys fuckin suck..

carry on

+1


Boosting them is miserable. But like ya said, freebie.

[86VickyLX]

I'll pay for convenience...

[GM_Guy]

Whats so hard about boosting a side terminal? Theres a groove in the nut to clamp onto.

Alex.
Side Terminal FTW!

[85crownHPP]

Its definitely more cumbersome and precarious, but I have cables with swing out clips for side terminals for mine . Regular cables do like to slip off though, making a possibly aggravating situation even more so...!

[84GrandMarquis]

Update: Well the alternator is fixed, plain old 1G rebuilt motorcraft. Things appeared great, but I noticed that when ever it rains the amp light comes on... I thought mabye the ground was getting wet but then wouldn't that completly kill the car? Mabye, I don't really know, I'm just surmising since the point of the ground would be to kill electricity when it gets wet, so I have no clue

[sly]

check the connections on the fender mounted regulator. That's the part that's probably getting wet. May just need to disconnect it and give it a healthy douse of dielectric grease.

[85crownHPP]

The wires on those external regulators like to corrode and loose their insulation too... I got a whole charge harness to replace mine with back in the day, it was horrible shape.