Bus Alternator Wire Fried

Ryno · Post by **Ryno** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:07 am

OK. I was getting ready to start up my engine yesterday and hooked up my freshly charged battery and the big red wire going from my alternator to the starter fried on me instantly. Also, the battery terminals became very hot.

What could possibly cause this? Direct short?

RSorak 71Westy · Post by **RSorak 71Westy** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:09 am

Yeppers. Something is grounding that shouldn't be.

Ryno · Post by **Ryno** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 1:15 pm

Thank you Rick.

Can that wire be run directly to the battery instead of the starter?

Ryno · Post by **Ryno** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 3:22 pm

Ryno wrote:
Can that wire be run directly to the battery instead of the starter?

Is it that stupid of a question?

bus71 · Post by **bus71** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:47 pm

I would make sure the battery cables aren't reversed. It happens to the best of us! What year is your bus? The wires are different on early models. For example, our 71 has an alternator with an internal regulator (not stock).

hambone · Post by **hambone** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 8:48 am

I once fried an alternator jumping a bus because mine has a RED negative wire to the battery. Stupid. It's still there but I wrote "neg" with a sharpie. I'll not forget now though!

AirCooledNut · Post by **AirCooledNut** » Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:01 pm

Here's my experience:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=369693

My posting starts a little ways down. But yes, you can put the B+ wire directly to the battery's positive terminal.

Post by **Amskeptic** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 3:55 pm

AirCooledNut wrote:Here's my experience:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=369693

My posting starts a little ways down. But yes, you can put the B+ wire directly to the battery's positive terminal.

The reason you want to go through the rigamorale of shipping the alternator juice directly to the starter is because the VW engineers wanted the alternator to feed the main juice to the front of the car from that the "junction" of the battery cable/alternator wire/main red wire/heater blower main wire. This is the happiest set-up for cool reliable wires.
Colin

Ryno · Post by **Ryno** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 6:45 pm

I took the first alternator apart and it's hard to tell where it grounded out and melted. I'm pretty sure that event smoked the solenoid in the starter too, as I had to replace that as well.

The second alternator works just fine, and I ran the B+ to the starter as it should be.

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Bus Alternator Wire Fried

Bus Alternator Wire Fried