why do alternators die?

[spider_slayer]

well, i was jsut curious what could have killed my alternator. my sr20det only has 31,000 miles on it and when i took it out of the car the ground post had been melted. i have one ordered and want to know what could have caused this?!?!?

[WeldingHank]

it wasn't grounded properly. causing resistance to build up, and heat along with it.

[spider_slayer]

so what is the proper way to ground the alternator? all that was there when i took it off was the wire held on by a nut

[andrave]

yeah but that wire goes somewhere. I think there are 2 wires and one plug, right?

[Dano]

ummm, your alternator's internal regulator could have shorted to ground or failed some other way, u could have a defective rectifier bridge, i guess its possible the stator windings couldve shorted to ground... but my guess is the regulator? ... may have nothing to do with the alternator itself... your best bet is to research y it failed b4 throwin another one in there and having the same thing happen...

-Dan

[spider_slayer]

yea, thats what i'm trying to do now.

also i'm sure that its one wire and one plug

and the one black wire is the ground right?

[slipnfall]

FYI, one wire on the plastic shrouded connector(smaller gauge) on the alt., is tied into the bulb check relay and the 'charging' light on the dash. Both are tied together and will ground when car is non running, or if the alt. fails.

::edit::I was suprised to learn that the 'bulb check' relay only actually tests the dash brake light...(S13's anyways)

[spider_slayer]

so if the ground wire is part of the main connection......what the hell is the smaller black cord for??!?