Q: broke small wire going to alternator.

asked by on January 16, 2017

yesterday i broke the small wire to the alternator changing plugs. did not know it until todaywhen it died. bought a replacement connector and spliced it in. still will not charge. took alternator and it tested ok. get 14 volts when jumper cables are on at the alternator, but drops to 6 when i remove them, and it dies.

My car has 145000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

The small wire that you broke off is the wire that goes to the computer of the vehicle. The computer controls the charging and you may need to have the computer scanned and any codes diagnosed for the charging system. You may have damaged the computer by this wire shorting out.

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