my positive connection failed and melted the little black terminal box.............I cut the two eyes off the wires ,stripped about an inch of wire jacket off and used a splice cap/marrette .....a big blue one and packed a little blob of silicone in the end......ask an electrician for one maybe......pre twist the wires together first before twisting on the cap
Maretts have absolutely NO place in a vehicle, especially in a place that carries that kind of current.
The pos. post is still available from Toyota and isn't crazy expensive.
It WILL solve all your problems and save BBQ'ing your butt.
BB the splice I did with a marette has been good for 5 years ....no problem.....I used a little anti oxidant goo also for good measure[nolox]...marettes don't carry current ,just hold the wire......I rather rely on a marrette than a pair of crimped stakon eyes......I thought about using a split bolt but didn't like the idea of the electrical tape melting in the heat.
Hey Nik
I was always taught that Maretts don't like vibrations and can't be trusted to hold things secure.
I am also not a fan of crimps for most applications (attaching fusible links would be the exception) but prefer to solder and shrink.
I like to keep my positive wires well secured, and see no sense in doings things part way, but am glad it works for you.
Given that OEM parts are still available and affordable, I don't see the point in taking chances.
BB
To follow up on this..It's been a while and the DIY harness build and fusible links and work I did has held up fine. The issues I continued to have were due to aftermarket alternators. To date I think I've gone through 5 alternators. I kept having to swap out ones from Oriellys till I found one that worked longer than a few weeks. Almost each failure happened while on long trips (100+ miles) while driving for hours on end. Maybe the long heat and load on these things frys them. Ultima I think is the brand Oriellys uses. These "lifetime warranty" alternators are trash in my opinion and they don't fit right. What I ended up doing was finding an original denso/toyota alternator in a junk van with somewhat low miles and used that instead and I have the last one I bought on hand as a back up. What I'd like to do next is buy the internals for the og denso and keep that one going strong. Here's the thread timsrv outlines that- http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...ght=alternator
My charging wire (+box to the alternator post) is actually two 10g-ish wires with separate eye connectors to the alternator post. Can someone please confirm that this is the stock setup and not something shady from the PO? I discovered (after much popping and smoke until I unhooked the batt ground) that indeed a 2nd wire (with a missing eye connector) was partially exposing itself out of the harness sleeve. I'm frustrated I didn't catch this earlier, and am concerned that I may have fried a thing or two as a result.Originally Posted by timsrv
Here's a diagram I marked up with the wire colors used on van harnesses:
Pos box should have 2 wires with ring ends.
One heavy wire coming from the battery, the 2nd heavy wire goes off to the alternator.
The factory wire is fairly light gauge and I dont remember if it was a double wire or not.
When I replaced mine I used 8g wire with soldered ends.
Thanks, Burntboot. Looks like mine is similar to Ratatouille's in post #44 (likely 10g and a second 12g or 14g wire). But since the repaired wire is now a tight fit and I foolishly broke the +box in the process, I'll be upgrading to an 8g this weekend.
well it is 2020 and big blue marette is still hanging in there haha
My alternator plug had been causing me some troubles. I noticed the last time I changed the alternator that the plug/wires were on their way out. I rolled with it, but soon after started getting christmas tree lights intermittently. one time, which was on a drive from SF to SD, just over the Grapevine, the dash lights came on solid. I pulled over (in the dark) and managed to discover that if I bent the wires in a certain direction, the dash lights would turn off (completing the circuit). I ended up using two zip ties around a hose to keep those alternator wires bent towards that sweet spot. Exactly like when your cell phone charger cables starts to crap out and you have to bend the wire to make it work. This was a quick fix that ended up lasting the rest of the trip to SD, the drive back to SF, a month of puttering around town, and a drive back to SD! A few weeks after that last drive to SD is when it really started to get wonky. The sweet spot was almost nonexistent at that point.
ANYWAY, I finally got around to pulling the harness out. I replaced the plug, and soldered those new wires that came on the plug, onto the existing wires in the harness. I had to trim back a little bit to get to the section of wire that was still healthy. Shrink wrap and E tape, back in biz.
While doing this I also re-seated the + wire to the alternator. The spade that is on there, didn't sit completely on the nut of the new alternator, so I put it on upside down, which ended up making a WAAY more solid connection.
Result - brighter lights, what seems to be a little more pep in the step, and...better gas mileage?? When I got the van, the coil was bad. I can't help but to wonder if these wire issues had been an issue for quite some time leading to other electrical concerns / problems.
Anyway, I barely took any photos because my hands were all gunked up. But I'm stoked it worked out!
What are the wire gauges to build a new whip from alternater to harness please?
I m having some alternator issues right now. Want to do a thorough test of the wiring. Continuity from all the wires in the harness back to the connector. Does anyone know the points behind the connector I can test for continuity? I m particularly interested in IGN circuit on the alternator connector. I attempted to test for voltage on the ignition wiring and found none. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Re: Replacing the alternator harness
This is a really dumb qeustion but hypothetically... if the sense wire was cut off or perhaps, entirely missing... what symptoms might you have?
Read the 1st post in THIS THREAD, particularly the part describing the FL 0.5G fusible link. Tim
Sweet, I brought it into the shop and they went through 6 warranty alternators. Where might i find this sense wire?
Did you read the other thread? What was the charge voltage on the other alternators while they were functioning??? Is there a power steering leak getting on the alternator? Are you using a genuine Denso alternator or one of those cheap aftermarket rebuilds? I'd also recommend searching the site for the thread "alternator woes" and read. Tim
Some alternators out of the box were fine for a short while, then others would come out of the box with charging voltages of 15-17.8volts. The 7th one. Which is currently inside my van seems fine. But thats because after the 2nd alternator, i got fed up and brought it into a shop. When i first arrived, i told them to inspect wires behind the dash and the fusible links. After the 5th one I told them again and they did. Now it charges. But it doesnt seem like it actually knows where my battery is at in terms of charge. And I can't find the area on my van that this sense wire should be.
The info you're after is well documented in those 2 threads (and others). Tim
i appreciate it. they've been very helpful. BUT I cannot for the life of me locate the sense wire (0.5g) fusible link. maybe that's my problem.
The 1st thing you should do is unplug the round alternator connector and check voltage at the white sense wire. If you see battery voltage here the sense wire is hooked up and there's no need for further investigation. If however there is low or no voltage here, that's a problem that needs to be investigated.
Here's a picture from the fusible link thread:
The 0.5G fusible link is the little yellow cylinder to the right of the battery. This connects the battery + to a white wire that goes to the "S" terminal on your alternator. Even if yours is there and is hooked up, it's very possible it's corroded and/or not making good contact. Over the course of 30 something years, it's also very possible somebody broke or cut this out, but the wire should still be down there going into the harness. If you find the end of a ~14 ga white wire down there that's cut/broken, it's a good bet that's it. If you find that wire, use a meter to verify continuity from it to the alternator harness "S". Assuming you see continuity, hook it up to the Battery positive terminal via an inline fuse. Based on wire size, I'm thinking a 10 or 15 amp fuse would be appropriate. After hooking it up, use a voltmeter at the "S" terminal again to verify you fixed (should see battery voltage here). If there is still no voltage or you can't find the wire, you could always run a new one. Tim
PS: Due to age and extreme conditions, it's also possible wires in the alternator harness are compromised. Due to years of vibration and flexing it's not uncommon for the last few inches of wire going into the alternator plug to become broken and fractured inside their insulation. The worst part about this type of degradation is connectivity is often intermittent. Intermittent problems are hard to diagnose, so if you think this is a possibility you may opt to simply replace this part of the harness. Even though the OE alternator harness is NLA, as shown earlier in this thread you can still get the round plug with wires from aftermarket sources.
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