CS144 Alternator, is this damn thing wired right?

[MrSony]

El cam is directing you.

If your idiot light isn’t working ,and it previously was, then you don’t have it hooked up correctly.

It sounds like your pigtail has the F and L pins swapped on the alternator pigtail. Look at the attachment. It appears you bought a generic pigtail for the alternator, it will require to be wired differently depending on the setup the vehicle has. I doubt the alternator is no good, but anything is possible.

So it's not supposed to be red to red, brown to brown?

 

[64nailhead]

The plug in the alternator - 4 wire, needs to have the idiot light wire in the L pin.

I’ve never seen a plug that isn’t labeled P L F S.

I’m guessing you need to move the brown wire from the F pin to the L pin.

Perhaps a pic of the plug. And as ELCAM mentioned, be sure the brown wire has 12 volts in it with the key on and engine running (usually it hit even with the engine off and the key on).

 

[MrSony]

The plug in the alternator - 4 wire, needs to have the idiot light wire in the L pin.

I’ve never seen a plug that isn’t labeled P L F S.

I’m guessing you need to move the brown wire from the F pin to the L pin.

Perhaps a pic of the plug. And as ELCAM mentioned, be sure the brown wire has 12 volts in it with the key on and engine running (usually it hit even with the engine off and the key on).

My plug is a specific adapter and only has two wires coming out of it. I don't think I can depin that plug itself. I'll check after work what is going where on the CS side of the plug. The thing that gets me is it will charge eventually but it takes a long time to "kick in". You can definitely tell when it decides to kick in. Lugs the engine down quite a bit.

 

[Wageslave]

If your car has a voltmeter, you may need to add an 83ish ohm resistor on the L wire to not overcharge. If you have the dummy light, make sure it is not burnt out or it will fail to excite. I used a big diode on mine to prevent backfeeding, but a resistor should work fine.

 

[MrSony]

I have .3v at the idiot light wire to the alt (brown), and can confirm the batt light will not come on no matter how much I hwack the dash. Changing the bulb now.

 

[64nailhead]

Is your alternator plug wired correctly?

You should be able to ground the brown wire from the engine harness and that will make the idiot light illuminate.

If you want to hold off on pulling the dash, then wire in a light bulb (194 clearance bulb works well in a socket) to the brown wire to act as the idiot light. The light should go out as soon as the motor starts.

 

[MrSony]

Was a ****y bulb. Should probably go and replace them all but cleaning the contacts seems to have fixed it. Poking the bulb making it turn on and off I could engage and disengage the Alternator.

 

[64nailhead]

you can do away with the bulb if you want or put another one in. I kinda like the idiot light only because you know immediately if you spit a belt or something similar before you smoke the motor because the water pump quit turning.

 

[MrSony]

you can do away with the bulb if you want or put another one in. I kinda like the idiot light only because you know immediately if you spit a belt or something similar before you smoke the motor because the water pump quit turning.

Same reason why I'm looking for a dual (or three?) prong temp switch to run my fans and a temp sensor for the idiot light.