I believe that is a fuse too, but hopefully one of the experts will chime in soon. I know enough to be dangerous... LOL I'm good with mechanical, electrical I struggle with.

 

Exactly. I'm the same way!

 

I just took more pictures, remember mine is a 302EFI. In the first picture, down the harness a bit, appears to be a fusible link (?) and in the 4th pic, there the yellow and black wires from that harness going into a black fusible link (?) Or is that just the way Ford made changes in the crimped wires (?)





This may show it better,



Yes, I just noticed that broken and crimp yellow wire from that connector, I'll assume the mechanic fixed that when the ALT harness smoked a few years back.

Sorry for the messy wires, I haven't looked at it much until now, maybe someday I'll fix that mess...but if it ain't broke don't fix it...

 

In a lot of cases when working with the fusible link I’ve ended up replacing it with a standard replaceable fuse. Something like a mega fuse, or a midi fuse is common practice.
There are advantages to a fusible link, and good reasons that the factories still use them. But I don’t remember what they are at the moment and frankly convenience is not one of them.
If you have a problem out in the middle of nowhere I’d rather fix the problem and slap a new fuse in the holder then try to replace another section of fusible link.
depending on what the original problem was of course.

with all of this work I’m back to thinking that swapping in a 3G would not have been much more effort.

 

Sorry, I'm not super knowledgable with the electrical stuff. What do you guys mean when you say 1G, 2G, 3G? Are you talking about the model of the alternator?

 

1st Generation, 2nd Gen and 3rd Gen I guess it took Ford sometime to figure it out.

I know the 2nd Gen had loose connector issues that could cause a fire, that's why my recent replacement had an internal connector with three wires coming out of it. Where the truck came with a plastic connector that over time had issues.

Here is mine after the mechanic replaced the smoked wires, few years ago,


Here's the replacement I did last Fall.

 

Gotcha. So i looks like the new alternator I bought is a third gen. I tried to see what would happen if I connected the wires the way the other post shows in the harness and smoked my wire going to my carb a bit. So thats a bust. Where would I find a used alternator wire harness?

 

I thought one of the post had a link to wire harness. Ask Google to find it.

or a junkyard,

https://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi here's for a 85' https://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi


FWIW, My local junkyard, has a guy that loves these trucks, he always ask's me when I'm going to sell him my truck. He has a couple of these, one is a dump truck.

 

I thought there was a link to it as well but can't find the post

 

Looks like you might want to wait for the experts.

https://www.google.com/search?q=ALT+...client=gws-wiz


I'm thinking you may need to find one in the junkyard, or make your own new with connectors you can buy at most auto parts stores.

We also need to make sure you have the correct ALT for what you're doing.


Here's my local NAPA, it shows connectors too.
https://www.napaonline.com/en/search...tor&referer=v2

Also, my recent ALT came from Carquest Auto parts, they are a local store that's been here for many decades but are owned by Advance Auto parts. As Advance tested mine and told me Carquest had the part.

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/we...0051&langId=-1

 

The alternators you are messing with are all 2G. The newest alternator you got was a modified aftermarket 2G alternator to fix the connector problem with the original 2G. But it is still a 2G.

Take those two fatter wires and hook them to the starter solenoid large post that goes to the battery like you mentioned you were going to do before. Make sure to use a thicker wire to match the wire size the factory used, or you can go larger.

Your smaller wires; Run the yellow wire right along side the fatter wire or wires, and hook it also to the battery post on the solenoid along with the fat wire.

The green wire; Is it hooked up into the harness and continues unbroken into the firewall? If so, it should be good. If it's disconnected, you need to find the lightgreen/red wire laying around under the hood over there. This should be all you need to get it to charge.

 

No. It is not. You have a 2G alternator with the wrong pulley and a wiring mess left by the PO. The 3G alternator has an internal fan and the wiring is different. Pictures of a 3G:



I mentioned the wrong pulley a week ago and others have as well. You cannot use the serpentine belt pulley with V belts. It will cause the belt to wander on the pulley and slip causing the alternator to not charge.

 

@My4Fordtrucks I saw that. Thanks for the info. I switched the alternator back to the original as after having it tested, it works fine.

 

@Franklin2 I did what you suggested and my battery is charging when it runs! I attached pics. Forgive the temp wire connectors. Didn't want to make it permant if it wasn't gonna work. I put the old alternator in, bought the adapter from AutoZone. Attached the two black wires together to the one black coming off the solenoid and it's working so far.

 

Tha is again for everyone's help. I truly appreciate it. I picked up a replacement 3 wire voltage cable connector. I know someone said the white wire should connect to the white wire on the other cable on the alternator. Is that it? Or do those white wires connect to something else?

Also should I add a fuseable link on the black wire running from the alternator to the starter solenoid?