so i was doing some work on my car, and i layed my wrench down. weel the wrech made contact between the hot wire on the alternator and the head.i quickly snacthed it up. i saw some smoke come out off the relay box and now i have no power at all. i replaced the efi main relay, and all the fuses are good. but still i have no power. i mean none at all, no radio, no lights, no anything. when i pulled the + wire off the battery and put it back on, i got no spark like normal. i tested the battery with a volt meter and got 12.7 volts. so please help.
need help, fixing my f-up
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alt fuse should be blown. Its the blue square one. You have to remove the fuse box and unbolt it from the bottom.
Its in the fuse box under the hood. Yea, you will have that fuse on an 86.5.
Its a fuse but its a square and it has a little glass window to see if its blown.
Ill see if i can find a pic real quick
Its a fuse but its a square and it has a little glass window to see if its blown.
Ill see if i can find a pic real quick
Okay, I just looked at the diagram for the 86.5's and its showing a fusible link, not a fuse. Thats why it smoked. Ill guess your fusible link has burnt up, like its supposed to when you have a short. Take that loop of wire and pull on it pretty hard, if it stretches, or comes apart, its blown. You will need to replace it
It has to be fusible link wire. Fusible link wire is a special wire that burns out at a specified Amperage, so that it burns out first and saves the rest of your system.
Looks like this: http://www.madelectrical.com/catalog/fusible-link.shtml
you can get it at most auto parts stores. you will have to get a couple ring terminals (like in the link above) to bolt it back in the fusebox.
Looks like this: http://www.madelectrical.com/catalog/fusible-link.shtml
you can get it at most auto parts stores. you will have to get a couple ring terminals (like in the link above) to bolt it back in the fusebox.
Do not use just a piece of wire.
Or you could then drop your wrench again and not have the protection of the FL and fry the rest of your car
edit: 90T04 beat me to it. Just don't use a piece of wire.
Or you could then drop your wrench again and not have the protection of the FL and fry the rest of your car
edit: 90T04 beat me to it. Just don't use a piece of wire.
You can replace that fusible link with the alt fuse from the 89+ models. (Like the blue one in the pic)
A fusible link is just a wire that is 4 gauges smaller than the main one. Solder shrink wrap and a piece of wire is all ya need.
actually my fuseable link blew and you can actually repace it with one of the square fuses instead of getting another fusable link they both have the same way of connecting under the plastic
Neil said:
Ummm.... no. Fusible link is fine strand wire that is made, intentionaly, to burn apart at a particular amperage. Kinda like a fuse, thus fusible link. It is most definately NOT regular wire. DO NOT put regular wire in there. Next we're gonna see the "Why won't anything work in my car???" thread....
happened with me, i was unbolting my battery, and the tip of the wrench touched my alternator and i saw a huge spark..
replaced that gigantic ATL fuse and it was fine...
replaced that gigantic ATL fuse and it was fine...
