Replacement Alternator Heat Issues

[behlinla]

Originally Posted by martinamw

The fuse didn't blow, but the cable from the battery to the megafuse was fried, and so was the actual alternator.. I could be thinking about it wrong, but shouldn't the fuse have blown ?

That's interesting. Yes, the fuse is supposed to blow if the alternator were to short out and prevent the smoldering mass you ended up with. Is it possible the positive cable on the battery side of the fuse somehow touched grounded metal at the fuse connection? Or something in the fuse shorted to ground?

Did you replace the mega fuse with the cable? I would.

[Lgbpop]

If the cable connection at the battery was loose and/or the cable itself was too small for the load, that could go before the fuse. The fuse is supposed to be the weakest link, but if something else presents itself Murphy's Law comes into play.

Now that you are all fixed up, I recommend replacing the mega fuse. Even if it didn't blow before the other stuff, it still took a beating electrically.

[martinamw]

There were no obvious shorts by the megafuse, it's all pretty secure and covered in plastic.

I'll replace the fuse anyway, and have a closer look at the fuse box for possible shorts.

Thanks for all the help guys.

[SoNic67]

Don't worry about the megafuse. Your short happened at alternator side, no signifiant current flowed trough the megafuse...

[Lgbpop]

Originally Posted by martinamw

The fuse didn't blow, but the cable from the battery to the megafuse was fried, and so was the actual alternator.. I could be thinking about it wrong, but shouldn't the fuse have blown ?

Something caused that cable to go, and it seems to me it would have gone straight from the alternator through the fuse to the cable.

[martinamw]

Here's a small diagram of the link between the Battery and the Alternator.

One possibility is that I think the cable between the megafuse and the alternator, is thicker or lower guage, then the battery to megafuse.


(The small thick black line is the megafuse)