One wire alternator nonsense

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yellow rose

yellow rose

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73 Duster. Going to a one wire alternator. Started digging into the wiring and found this:
1F4224D7-F9E1-473B-BB5E-FB11D0ADDDD4.jpeg
1F4224D7-F9E1-473B-BB5E-FB11D0ADDDD4.jpeg
Sorry for the double picture. You can see some whiz bang in gym shorts hacked into that plug. AFAICT, the only wire I need out of that mess is the yellow one that goes to the coil. I can’t find in the wiring diagram what the rest of the stuff is, except for the two field wires and the main alternator wire.

682667BB-266C-4335-8F07-6D4B44B02F56.jpeg
That’s the plug. Can I eliminate it?

ADE0C7C7-77A3-4F13-949F-BBA488720983.jpeg
The yellow wire nut is on the main wire from the alternator. That wire was BAD.

So...I need to know what to do with that plug, as in can I just eliminate it, or do I need to keep it? Also, I’m looking at the Mad electrical web page and they drill into the bulk head, but I can’t tell where I’d drill on this 73 bulkhead.

Any help is much appreciated.

YR
 
Looks like some sort of funky trailer connector. You can buy the under hood harness pretty cheap. Might be better to start over.
 
Are those wires "broken out" as a group and that much looks original? If so you can likely figure out what connector "it was" or write the wire colors and look up the manual. If you have the 73 service manual there's a chart on past the diagram that lists individual connectors

Does that car still have the troublesome engine disconnect connector? This was originally a white molex and also had the big alternator charge wire run through it. Looks like that one is a bit chopped up
 
67Dart273 said:
Are those wires "broken out" as a group and that much looks original? If so you can likely figure out what connector "it was" or write the wire colors and look up the manual. If you have the 73 service manual there's a chart on past the diagram that lists individual connectors

Does that car still have the troublesome engine disconnect connector? This was originally a white molex and also had the big alternator charge wire run through it. Looks like that one is a bit chopped up
Click to expand...


The white molex connector isn’t there. I now suspect that that plug was replaced with that farm store looking plug.

If that’s the case, how many of those wires do I need besides the yellow wire??? I mean if I don’t need them, I can cut that plug off, tape the wires back and send it cant I????

Dont forget, I’m electrically retarded.
 
yellow rose said:
73 Duster. Going to a one wire alternator. Started digging into the wiring and found this:
View attachment 1715718997 View attachment 1715718997 Sorry for the double picture. You can see some whiz bang in gym shorts hacked into that plug. AFAICT, the only wire I need out of that mess is the yellow one that goes to the coil. I can’t find in the wiring diagram what the rest of the stuff is, except for the two field wires and the main alternator wire.

View attachment 1715718998 That’s the plug. Can I eliminate it?

View attachment 1715719000 The yellow wire nut is on the main wire from the alternator. That wire was BAD.

So...I need to know what to do with that plug, as in can I just eliminate it, or do I need to keep it? Also, I’m looking at the Mad electrical web page and they drill into the bulk head, but I can’t tell where I’d drill on this 73 bulkhead.

Any help is much appreciated.

YR
Click to expand...
YR if that mess goes back to the voltage regulator you can eliminate it as you will not be using the VR anymore. Just run a heavy gauge wire from the alternator directly to the positive side of the battery. I always add a inline fuse that is close to or just under the rating of the alternator.
Make sure you have a good gound strap from the engine to the chassis.
 
Likely what this was, they call it "dash to engine" which is a poor title

engine_connect.jpg
 
Ok...I’m really in the weeds now. So this thing has the dual ballast, which isn’t being used. There is a black/yellow wire coming off the 5 pin plug for the OE a ignition box. Somehow, that wire ends up going to the farm plug, which ends up at the coil.

I hope that makes sense. I can’t see how that black/yellow wire can end up at the coil when there isn’t power to it, as it’s not hooked to anything.

So my question about that is...can I take the blue wire that is in the top left position of the ballast resistor and just run it to the coil negative? It is a switched 12 volt source, and that’s all the box needs to run. Then what do I do with the rest of the wires coming off the ballast and the wires going to the plug that goes to the ignition box??

I’d like to just eliminate what I can to clean this mess up, and still have everything work.
 
Mike69cuda said:
Looks like some sort of funky trailer connector. You can buy the under hood harness pretty cheap. Might be better to start over.
Click to expand...

That's what it is. Green, brown, yellow are the light hookups red and black are self explanatory.
 
Hard to do "what I can see." I don't know yet where that mess you started with ends up "to." The coil NEG does not have power "per se" it will measure some power when the ECU is powered because it feeds through from the box. The coil NEG is "switched" by breaker points, or by the wire from the ECU when used.

The 3rd party diagrams "of just the electronic ignition" don't follow particular wire codes so you'll have to be careful of color You also have to be wary because some diagrams picture the ECU connector "looking at" the ECU and some of them are pictured "looking at" the connector plug from front, so, mirror image

Simplified diagram, looking at the front of the ECU Wire at far top right labled "existing wire" is the IGN1 "run" normally dark blue. That point also brances off and feeds the alternator field (light blue) and regulator IGN power so those are not needed with your "one wire." If you had any smog devices, idle solenoid, or electric choke, those also would branch off that point

The (normally) brown IGN2 bypass wire hooks to the coil + side of the ballast, that is the bottom right terminal of the ballast

Ignition_System_5pin.jpg
 
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YR.

I hope you have more luck with the one wire alt than I did....
I bought one of those mini versions, about 50 amps. It kept draining the battery every few days.....
 
Bewy said:
YR.

I hope you have more luck with the one wire alt than I did....
I bought one of those mini versions, about 50 amps. It kept draining the battery every few days.....
Click to expand...

I`d tell Y R to hang in there , he`s probly smarter than I am , and I rewired mine w/ a one wire about 10 yrs ago , so far so good .
 
I hate to admit it but the one wire alternator that i put on my Duster is a GM version. Hey..it was like 35 bucks with a lifetime warranty. Y R all i did was use the factory 12v source to the alternator and, hooked it to the post on the GM alternator. I put heat shrink on the field wire ends and, wrapped them up in factory harness and through out the voltage regulator. Charges 14v all time and works like a champ...

20171203_142643.jpg
 
plymouth67 said:
I hate to admit it but the one wire alternator that i put on my Duster is a GM version. Hey..it was like 35 bucks with a lifetime warranty. Y R all i did was use the factory 12v source to the alternator and, hooked it to the post on the GM alternator. I put heat shrink on the field wire ends and, wrapped them up in factory harness and through out the voltage regulator. Charges 14v all time and works like a champ...

View attachment 1715719252
Click to expand...
130 amp G M -------------------------------------------
IMG_0150 (1).jpg
 
As is typical, this mess is going backwards in a hurry.

The black wire coming off the alternator was pretty toasty at the bulkhead. In the cab, it’s bare all the way to the welded splice. So what next???

Do I just find a clean piece of wire just before the splice and make a whole new wire?? Also, trying to follow the Mad Electrical plan and it seems to me that black wire is the wire that you remove and replace.

Disclaimer: I’m am electric stupid. I suspect my car will be in the same shape, so this Duster is a test run before I unscrew my car.

What’s my next move??? I know replacing the black wire for starters. Then what???
 
If it's burned that bad you have a bit of work, here's what it goes and does.

Goes from the alternator through the bulkhead connector to the ammeter BUT a few inches FROM the ammeter there is the infamous big welded splice. If you are going to bypass the ammeter, and I'd consider that, you must power that splice. So however you get power into the car, which used to be the RED ammeter wire, you need to hook that splice to the red, ammeter or no

Read the MAD article, the diagram there shows basic power distro. You don't "HAVE" to fix this as MAD does. You can either replace/ repair the connector, or drill through the holes and run at least some NO10 through there without the connectors. You can parallel two if you are eliminating the ammeter. In other words (if so) run two from the battery, through a big fuse/ fuse link through the connector and tie them together inside, and spice in the "welded splice" to get power where it needs to go

Catalog

amp-ga18.jpg
 
I was lost until I got a factory service manual. I think the only way to be sure there are no unknown gremlins is to remove all the tape from the harness and trace each wire and make repairs as needed.
I did that with my harness on the living room floor a few winters ago.
The electrical works great now, no dead batteries, starts with a click of the key and every thing works.
Good luck.
 
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