Alternator??

[rsmithdrift]

If you don't want to read details of the problem and how it occoured skip to last paragraph.

So I'm test driving my car last night and suddenly I smell smoke. Electrical smoke... my headlights are very dim, my dashlights are almost off, my amp cut off, my radar detector/voltage gauge starts screeching "Warning battery is LOW" at me and registers 10.7vI get scared of fire and come to a screeching halt with the motor turned off. Smoke is coming out from under my hood.I look under the hood and all seems fine, so I started it back up and drove it home. Voltage never went back above 11v. It usually goes to 13.6-14.1 while driving.

I figured I had a short in my MAF wiring (just finished running my own wiring for it) but the car didn't run any different so I drove it to the mountian to a friends house. Aside from low voltage all seemed normall and voltage was stable at +/-10v

On the way home, voltage dropped below 9v and my headlight motors quit working, my radar detector and amp and heater all quit working and my window motors were VERY slow. By the time I got home I had almost no headlights and I couldn't give the car more than 1/4 throttle or it would cut out.

Get home, sure enough, won't start again and battery is at 7.7v

I disconnected the MAF (removing the possible short I thought it was creating) and jump started the car and it never gained voltage. Stayed at 7-8v the whole time.

Long story short, car started smoking under the hood and smelled like an electrical fire, and lost voltage, then after driving the battery died and won't recharge unless you charge it externally. So the question after all of this... CAN THE ALTERNATOR SMOKE AND SMELL OF ELECTRICAL FIRE WHEN IT GOES OUT OR WAS IT A WIRE BURNING??

[janda240sx]

Have you put a new alt. on it yet?

[rsmithdrift]

No, but I did the "disconnect the battery while running" trick and sure enough it kept running. Volts never went up over 8v while running w/o battery though. I charged the battery so it has 12v again and it runs at10-11v with the battery connected. (slowly draining)

[janda240sx]

sounds like you need a new alt.

[tre4s13]

I'd check to see if the "hot wire" is exposed to a grounding source.

[S13_love]

im pretty sure you need a new alternator