A while ago when i replaced my 305 with the 350 I grounded my alternator out on my valve cover I replaced it and ever since I did that I have been going through alternators right and left , Every week or so I have a warranty on the alternator so they are free but I am pissing the autozone guys off, and its pissing me off , sometimes the main red wire (not the ground )smokes I dont know what the hell the problem is . The guy I bought the car from rigged all the wiring up thats why I got such a good deal for it, I cant even find a fuse box under the hood if theres supposed to be one. I appreciate the help

 

your fuse box should be under your dash,drivers side,very left corner closest to ya...sounds like maybe theres a wire going to the alternator that should be there,obviously...or id take the car back to him & explain your problem to him & ask him what he did

 

Only a couple things can be the culprit. Based on what you said I would do this. The red wire at the rear is the one that I'll bet got shorted. That wire is the high current output from the alt and ties directly to the positive battery terminal through a fuse link. There are a couple of ways to test for continuity the best way is this. Completely disconnect the battery, pull off the red wire at the rear of the alt and measure from the hanging positive battery post to the wire off the rear of the alt with a DVM set to measure ohms. You should read close to zero ohms indicating continuity from the output of the alt to the battery. If thats OK and the wiring is a hack job maybe the other guy never used a fuse link. Then the scenario is this, the wire may have overheated enough to melt the insulation causing the conductor to become exposed and possibly momentarily shorting out the alt output. A momentary open or short in the output line can cause immediate failure of the rectifier pack and thus a failed alt. It may be exposed or burned in a place not easy to find. Another thing to do is with the battery connected and key off pull the plug at the top of the alt. With a DVM set to volts measure the voltage at the 2 connectors(female or wire end/not alt plug). Key off both should read zero volts, with key on the red wire or heavier one should be at battery voltage(approx12 volts) and the other wire, tan or brown should be about a half a volt lower. That is the sense wire and that is the only one controlled by a fuse in the interior fuse panel. Normally losing that fuse will only cause the alt not to charge. Now next question, are you sure these new ones are really charging? Look in the interior fuse panel for one marked something like "fan/chg" or something close. Check that fuse, if it's bad the alt will not charge. Maybe the ones going back are not bad but based on the fact that you say the red wire smokes I bet money that it's got burnt insulation and an exposed conductor and is shorting to the block or frame with engine vibration. When tracing the red wire make sure the battery is disconnected. You move the wire the wrong way and it touches ground and it will give you a nasty burn. Keep us posted.

 

Alright I changed that fuse you were talking about and I couldnt check the ohms on any wires because my dvom is broken so I replaced all the wires even the voltage regulator and my guage reads steady between 13 and 14 volts I appreciate the help guys.