OK, I have more issues. Well, first off, the chip did not fix my original issue of it starting hard, not idling and dying when I hit the brakes, shift gears etc...(https://www.fiero.nl/cgi-bin/fiero/showThread.cgi?forum=2&thread=120500&style=printable)

This is a new issue and a new thread though. My alternator is not working for some reason. It never has but I never drove it so I just assumed it was a bad alt. and never went further with it. I FINALLY got around to buying a new alternator and it did not fix the issue. I took it back and had it tested just to be sure and it passed the test three times. So, I know it isn't the alternator, what can it be? The alternator isn't putting out any voltage, AT ALL. I PM'd Erik as he built my harness years ago and thought maybe he would have some insight but I thought I would throw it out here as well.

This is not a new problem, the alternator has never worked. I built the car like 7 years ago (ran/drove but never more than a couple miles at a time due to a bunch of small issues like alignment, MAP issue, stuff like that), sold it 5 years ago and actually bought it back last summer. Put a new crate motor in it as well as all new accessories (PS pump, alt., tensioner etc...) and fixed a bunch of other stuff the other guy messed up. The car is FINALLY road worthy other than the alt. issue now.

Thanks in advance guys!

Take a pic of the alternator and post it.

Any chance you know what kind of alternator it is?

10/12 SI? (Two wire position plug)

CS130/144 (One external fan and the electrical plug is a 4 position plug, and one of the wires of the electrical plug is larger than the others. Note - That is not including the very large wire that goes on to the stud on the back of the alternator)

CS 130D? (Dual internal fans - 4 position plug but all 4 wire positions are the same size)

CS130, to be exact, AC Delco 321-1067 is the alternator I have.

[This message has been edited by SLOWnSTEADY (edited 03-20-2012).]

this may not help, but when I made my harness, I traced every wire from the ECM to the sensor, end, or ground. I think there was 57 of them, and I made sure that each one ended with the correct fitting. I found that in my case, a few ends did not fit the sensor they were meant to. ( I was using a 96 motor, w/ 91 ECM). I had to trace each "other" wire too, all the fuzable links, power, grounds and that funky purple/yellow wire for the coils. bottom line, it sounds like something was missed or has broken in your harness, but I don't know for sure. I would suggest that you get the GM Manuals for your year motor and harness. I found that some of the information on Pennocks is wrong, and the only way your going to find out is to do it yourself. One example, on my car, wire D22 (i think) is for the clutch when you put the car in nutreal or something, my ECM (91) didn't have any wire at D22 and my harness was from a 5 speed car. Everyone told me that the car would stall if I didn't hook this up, but I figured if the ECM did n't have it, and the 91 Cutlass ran just fine, I would not hook it up. In the end, my car ran great, never stalled. If you look at the 92 and 93 wire harness diagrams they show that D22 wire hooked up, but the 91 Manual did not show it. If I had used a 92 or 93 GM Manual I would have been *ss out, but I bought the 91. Also, I picked up the 96 GM Manual for the motor, and it also saved my bacon.

Cheers

Rob

as of right now, i am not in a position to yank the whole harness again. I am moving in the next week or two and was just hoping i could throw a bandaid on it for now so i can drive it to the new house. Or, at least drive it a few miles to my mothers house and throw it in her garage for now.

I'm not an expert on the subject, but alot of the newer alternators have a signal wire that tells the alternator to turn on. Since you have never had a working alternator and the alternator tests good, my guess would be the signal wire is wired wrong or missing. It could be a bad ground too.

You said “The alternator isn’t putting out any voltage, AT ALL”, is that to mean that you read zero volts when you measure for voltage on the main connection stud? If this is the case then you aren’t getting any power to the alternator. Alternators won’t produce any power unless they have power provided to them (they aren’t generators). The main connection stud should show battery voltage even with the key off. With the engine running you should see about 14 volts. There are other connections depending on the setup but all alternators need to have “hot all the time” power at the main connection stud.

stud shows battery voltage only, 12.6ish to be exact, then drops to about 12.2v while the car is running. I am pretty sure it is the "exctor" wire, the one that tells to alt to "turn on". I just cant seem to find and wiring diagrams on it...


Also, you are completely wrong about them not producing power and not being generators. Start your car and then take out the battery, it will still run just fine if you have a good alternator. I drove a car almost 10 miles without a battery once. Had two cars to move, only one battery, so i started one, took the battery out tossed it in the other and we drove them both to my shop.

You could also disconnect the battery cable from the alternator and start it up. It will still produce 14.4v+ at the output stud. 99% of the time, when i want to test an alternator (and dont have a meter handy) i just pull the positive cable off. If it dies, bad alt, if it stays running, good alt.

[This message has been edited by SLOWnSTEADY (edited 03-22-2012).]

Here's a couple of pics that might help:



You use one of the two brown wires to "turn on" the alternator:

The brown "F" terminal wire (next to the red wire) goes to your original brown Fiero alternator wire that runs to the instrument cluster.
If you unplug the alternator & ground the original brown wire with the key on, the alternator light on the dash
should come on. You have a wiring problem or bad bulb in the dash if it does not.

You can hook up a wire that has 12v power with the key on to the brown "L" terminal (disconnect the wire to the "F"
terminal first) to make it work without the dash light/wiring.

THANK YOU!!! I knew someone would have some useful information for me. ;-)

quote Originally posted by AL68:

[This message has been edited by SLOWnSTEADY (edited 03-24-2012).]

Take notice that the diagram showed F goes to the test lamp. If you don't do this you will wreck your alternator. I know from experience, twice. You can buy a bulb from radio shack, something with wires connected already. run power to the bulb first and then to terminal F. The bulb acts as a diode so you aren't charging the car through the F terminal.

yes, the "F" terminal has to have some resistance (bulb/resistor) in the circuit, I had a 70's GM alternator actually backfeed enough power through the "F" wire to keep the car running with the key off until I added a resistor.