| DeMar | -- 08-28-2013 @ 2:11 PM |
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Hello All I am a new 1937 pickup owner It is hard for me to believe I have a pre-war truck sitting in the garage. With it comes a new form of stress Maybe someone can recognize my issue and give me some guidance Had the truck out for a great ride this past weekend (Saturday) I shared it with my 96 year old dad and some Ford enthusiasts. On my way home I stopped and started the truck several times with no issues. The next day I went to start it and nothing....everything was completely dead! Naturally I assumed it was the battery. I Took off the battery cables and charged battery overnight. Hooked cables back up.....but before I could even attempt to push the starter button, smoke was coming from one of the wires to the alternator, and the wire was HOT. There was also some smoke coming from the back/top of the engine. So I immediately unhooked the battery cables and the HOT wire from the alternator Sound familiar? It seemed odd that it started and stopped with no issue the day before Being new to me, I am not one to risk taking things apart if it is something simple I am overlooking Any ideas are appreciated
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| juergen | -- 08-29-2013 @ 5:42 AM |
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Looks like you have a short somewhere and a culprit seems to be the wire leading to the alternator or the alternator itself. Usually if a diode in the alternator fails there is a small discharge leading to a battery failure over night, not the smoking wire you noticed. After disconnecting the hot wire, did you try to start the car again? With the alternator out of the circuit, the car should still start. If everything is ok (except for battery discharge) you have isolated the problem to the alternator wire or the alternator. If something else smokes, disconnect it and try again. With a short as bad as you described, it should be easy to trace. Perhaps a wire with insulation burned through while laying on the engine.
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| supereal | -- 08-29-2013 @ 6:53 AM |
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Alternators have a diode "trio" that both act as a switch to disconnect the battery from the alternator, and rectify the AC output to the necessary DC. If one diode "goes short", it may cause the rest to follow, resulting in a short to ground for the battery. I am assuming you have the common "one wire" type alternator. As recommended above, if you disconnect the output wire from the alternator, and install the battery, and there is no smoke, the alternator is the problem, or the wire between that alternator and the battery may have burned open.
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| TomO | -- 09-01-2013 @ 8:13 AM |
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The 37 should have a generator and the cutout on the generator could be stuck closed. Try removing the belt and reconnecting the wire to the cutout and then reconnect the battery. If the generator runs like a motor, the cutout is bad. Tom
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| supereal | -- 09-01-2013 @ 3:33 PM |
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He said in the first post that he had an alternator, Tom. If the diode trio shorts, it is usually because the battery polarity was flipped. I don't put on many one wire alternators anymore, using two wire instead. They seem to be less trouble, and don't take a high rev to get them going. Of course, he may have meant generator, as they are commonly confused to many.
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| trjford8 | -- 09-02-2013 @ 8:04 PM |
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Delmar, check the routing of the wires into the engine compartment. It sound like some insulation wore off a wire or the wire got pinched between two pieces of metal.
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