If you smell burning cheerios...

[A5295]

Immediately pull over and look under your hood!

Sorry i know this was a bad way to start this post, but it just struck me funny the way things smelled...

I was on my way back from wal-mart with my lady friend, and we both noticed something smelling really bad, and assumed that it was something from one of the plants here in town. well, the longer i drove, the worse the smell got, and it changed to what honestly smelled like burned cheerios, but i digress.

I got flashed at by another driver, and i noticed that everything looked very dim... I pulled over in a parking lot, and when i stopped, noticed smoke coming from the hood. As i opened it, a nice little 18 in flame was blazing rather calmly beside my alternator. Once i got it put out, i noticed that both of my connectors on my alt were melted. I honestly couldnt tell what happened. I got the batt disconnected and wrapped up all the wires and limped it to my shop at work. When i reconnected the batt, it sounded and acted just like the key was turned on (injectors and fuel pump priming, my low fuel light on, etc.). The car started fine, but i couldnt get it to shut off. Had to stall it at the shop to kill it.

All of my gauges were working fine, and the car has been running great. id been driving around all afternoon, going and doing different things, and no problems at all.

Im rather befuddled, to be honest. Does anyone have any ideas about what it could be?

Guys, thanks for all the help in advance

-Michael

 

[HISSIN50]

I cant think of why, but I'd make sure the ignition switch doesnt have a short (which is keeping stuff going). It takes about 10 minutes or less to access the ignition switch. Pick up a spare from the dealership and replace it if yours looks bad anyhow (it was an issue and another source of a possible fire, hence my concern for ya).

Good luck.

 

[Modular2v]

your "special" lady friend?

 

[Strype]

My friend had this happen on a 5.0 T-bird. He said it was a recalled problem with the Alternator wires spontaneously combusting. Maybe worth looking into

Funny part was, he worked at the ford dealership and that's where it caught fire

 

[Boss 351]

time for a 3G upgrade if your alt wires are burning up. I got my 3G from a 93 Sable (also: 94-95 stang 5.0, 94-96 3.8L stang, E/F series 4.9L 93-94, 93-96 cougar/tbird 3.8L) get some 4ga wire and a 175amp fuse and box from a contour I'm so scared of a fire, I redid all my wiring (while hiding everything)...

You should check all your wiring starting from the simple alt wires, check to see if the inline fuse melted (near the solenoid).

 

[HISSIN50]

I got flashed at by another driver

We really don't need to know if other people are flashing you, especially if they are wearing a trenchcoat.

Oh, the stock fuse protection consists of fusible links, not fuses.

On the 3G threads, when people consider hooking up the two stock charge wires along with the 4 AWG, this is why you don't do that.

 

[wicked84gt350]

I will tell you exactly what happened and your frieand was right about the recall. what happened is the 3 wires running from the stator to the erectifier are secured using three spade treminals and what happens is those terminals under go a lot of heat and unlike most all other stators that have 3 lugs to take the abuse these trenimals heat up cause high resistance and a bad the wine up setting the selves the b+ and field wires on fire. A way to stop theis from happening is get a ground strap and put it on the alternator bolt and then to the block.

 

[A5295]

unfortunately it was a high-beam flash, lol...


Im def gonna go 3G - does anyone have a link to the best write-up?

 

[jrichker]

See the Sticky "Useful Technical Thread Index" at the top of the forum. There are all kinds of links to great tech notes, including a 3G install tech note.

 

[87GTSnake]

On the 3G threads, when people consider hooking up the two stock charge wires along with the 4 AWG, this is why you don't do that.

+1

If you do the 3g swap make sure to cut the stock charge wires back and tape them off in the harness.

 

[jgfiveoh]

don't mean to hijack but i haven't heard of not using the stock charge wires before. what is the reasoning behind it? i did a 130A 3g swap from PA performance and the directions in the kit said to use them and i also added the 4ga power and ground.

do i need to change this and what are the effects of not doing so?

 

[HISSIN50]

don't mean to hijack but i haven't heard of not using the stock charge wires before. what is the reasoning behind it? i did a 130A 3g swap from PA performance and the directions in the kit said to use them and i also added the 4ga power and ground.

do i need to change this and what are the effects of not doing so?

The real short version is:

We've seen that even with a stock output alternator, sometimes the fusible links in the stock charge wire don't blow in time. Add a 3G and the same sort of issue but with the additional 4 AWG cable. Now you possibly have 130 amps of juice running through those two stock charge wires (that can't even handle 75 amps).

In addition, the 4 AWG cable should be sufficient for a true 3G all its own. The stock charge wires are not needed for load carrying capacity but are a risk. E.g., IIRC the stock charge cable on my 94 was 6 AWG.

There have been some really long threads about this if desiring to read more.