Ground from altinator to battery

CarMan1 · Post by **CarMan1** » July 5th, 2006, 11:18 pm

ok, i was reading about upgrades to help with a fairly big sound system, and i read that if u run another wire from the ground on the altinator to the ground on the battery, itll help alot.. well i did that, and i got alot of sparks when i re-attached the (+) cable, so i undid it and took the extra wire away.. im guessin maybe this wasnt the (-) terminal on the altinator?? i also left the stock ground there, could that be causing my problem??

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » July 5th, 2006, 11:42 pm

Do you have another thread about a problem you are having, or did you forget to post what your problem is?
You very well could have connected the positive on the alt to the ground. 4th of July all over again

ariesdude · Post by **ariesdude** » July 6th, 2006, 1:06 am

There is no separate ground terminal for the alternator - the alternator casing is the ground - so a wire from one of the mounting bolts to the battery -ve will be good. The big terminal with the nut sticking out is the positive terminal. Hope you didnt burn out anything .....

Also no amount of ground will help if the alternator is weak and tired in the first place - if you have an RS upgrade to a GS alt (plug n play) - If you have a GS you can do millenia alt - but its not quite plug n play.

CarMan1 · Post by **CarMan1** » July 6th, 2006, 3:59 pm

yeh im dumb.. i was running positive to negative.. that wasnt cool, and yes did get some interesting fireworks.. didnt burn anything out tho, my whole system has fuses on it for power spikes ect... i am going to run another cable from the positive on the alt to the positive on my battery, i hear that helps alot.. also upgrading a few more grounds so the wire is thicker.

CarMan1 · Post by **CarMan1** » July 7th, 2006, 2:47 am

wow does running another wire form the alt power to battery power help alot... i can listen to my music alot higher and not have my rpm's drop off.. i did find out one thing tho, with my clutch pedle pushed all the way in, my rpm's spike 1k then 0 then 1k then 0, thats really wierd. car doesnt choke but it bogs down for a second...

ariesdude · Post by **ariesdude** » July 7th, 2006, 2:28 pm

It will be safe to put a ~80Amp fuse in the +ve wire between alternator and battery - that way if one shortcircuits it wont bring the other down.

Idle problems are very common in our cars and there's a lot of things that could be causing it - There's is a recent thread in the 4 cyl section that lists almost all things to check...

CarMan1 · Post by **CarMan1** » July 8th, 2006, 12:55 am

yeh i know, im prety sure alot of my problems come from having an engine thats about to break 160k miles..

my car really doesnt have any problems, been having power problems b/c i have a full aftermarket sound system with 2 12's and i have a sohc motor with a crappy alt...

ariesdude · Post by **ariesdude** » July 8th, 2006, 1:05 am

If the ground wires and +ve wire improved your electrical system - then the alt has been working overtime for god knows how long. The puny 65 amp capacity doesnt help either - safe bet would be to switch to a 90amp GS alt or a 120 amp millenia alt.

CarMan1 · Post by **CarMan1** » July 28th, 2006, 9:26 pm

a GS is what the v6? im sure i could find an altinator from someone on here.. and how much work would it take to get it to stay where my current alt is? i know this one i had to do a little grinding straight from the shop to get it to fit right..

and would the belts be in the same place? if so thatll be np, ill go find one

ariesdude · Post by **ariesdude** » July 29th, 2006, 1:26 pm

You will need a longer bolt to hold the GS alt in place and the bolt goes in the opposite way compared to the 4cyl setup. Also you have to swap the pulley from the 4cyl alternator (GS uses different belts). Other than that everything else will plug in.

CarMan1 · Post by **CarMan1** » July 30th, 2006, 12:38 pm

ok so i need a new belt, for a GS alt, and then the bolt goes in the other way.. not too hard... will the new GS belt fit right tho?

ariesdude · Post by **ariesdude** » July 30th, 2006, 1:35 pm

CarMan1 wrote:will the new GS belt fit right tho?

the GS belt will not fit - you have to remove the GS alternator pulley and swap in the pulley from RS alternator and use RS belt.