Wiring/electrical guru's-fusible links

[1-tonmudder]

Long story short my M1009 quit charging and after alot of looking i found two fusible links burnt out(one by the heat of the other).I repaired the wire recrimped and heat shrunk it.I jumped it and was letting the battery charge and starting smelling something burning,looked and it was the same wire melting.

I pulled the wire completely out of the harness but could not find any bare/burnt spot's.The wire goes to the post on the alt.

So do I need to completely replace the wire from the alt to the dist block on the fire wall and leave out the link,but put a fuse in it,or should I replace the dist block as well,or do I have other problems.

My M1009 was originally a 24 volt diesel,but I got a engine harness from the same year model gas pickup and put a gas engine in it.I am also runnin a serp belt set up and am usin the painless alt pigtail for the 88 up alt's.

 

[GsxrMike]

I would say if the wire got real hot you need to replace the whole thing. Find your short first. Sounds like maybe a bad battery or voltage reg. When a wire gets hot enough to melt the insulation it often looses its ability to carry current. I would use an inline fuse on the wire. So are you still running 24v starter? If not are you running 2 batteries still?

 

[1-tonmudder]

I originally thought the alt was bad since it wasnt chargin but 8 volt's.I replaced the alt and it still didnt charge good.I pulled one of the batteries off my diesel truck that I knew was good and it still did the same thing.I took the new alt back to have it checked and it was chargin 14 volt's.They tested my old alt(the one I gave them for a core) and it tested good as well.It will charge 14 volts now but the wire is smokin the whole time.

The complete system is 12 volt and I'm runnin a single redtop Optima.Would a circiut breaker be better or just use a 20 or 30 amp fuse???

 

[GsxrMike]

I would alway prefer a circut breaker over a fuse. I am not super good at wiring without looking at it but it sound like you have a bad connection somewhere. Is the voltage regulator built in to the alt? Does the wire that is smoking go straight though the distribuiton block to the battery? There maybe a short in one of the other wires coming off of the block. Maybe try running the wire direct from the alt to the battery. If you have an ohm meter I would check resistance from each wire on the block to the frame. Make sure you get good contact at each end. If the meter reads really low resistance or zero resistance then find the short on that wire.

 

[JDNobodi]

Something is wrong. It could be the wire that goes to the alternator could have the insulation rubbed off and grounding out on the block. I would fully inspect the wire for such damage.

 

[Grizzlyman]

If you are burning up fusible links, then you have a direct short. Follow the wire that is burning, disconnect it at the next connection. Test it with the ohm meter as GsxrMike described. Contiue connecting, disconnecting until you find the short. Repair and replace the fusible link.

One last thing, did you know that all wires are made with smoke in them, sometimes we just do things that let the smoke out............