91rs TBI
I was wondering if any one can tell the best way to fix this.(see pic)
Its a fusible link (for the alt) that blew when I went to get the car out of storage and had to jump the battery.The cause has been fix(I hope)

Anyway some guys are sayin to replace all three with a fuse block but I cant find what size fuses to use for each.

Or should I just replace with another link,if so are all links rated the same or different for each application.

 

diferent but most are color coded so just go color for color and make sure you make hard connections when you replace them . good luck

 

Is there a number on the white plastic splice?

 

its a orange..ish color and has 14 on it near the top.

 

local parts place has no listing for rating on this link and no orange looking wire on its shelf.
so i go to local Chevy dealer to buy a link.The guy at the parts counter tells me they dont sell them and has no listing but i can go to their service shop and talk to them,so I did.
they tell me that they cant sell me one but if bring in the car they will replace it.
So basically they want me to bring in car(well tow in) charge me min labor to replace a link that is probably a $5 part..looks like a 5min job....

any one have a shop manual they could look up the rating for the link from alt?

 

I remember a few years ago going to Pep Boys and nobody there knew what a fusible link was. The 14 on the marker means its 14 gauge fusible link (although GM uses the closest metric equivalent). If I were you, I'd go to the local u-pick and go cut a few off any gm vehicle that you can find. Trucks have an assortment at a terminal block on the top of the firewall-passengerside. It pays to have spares around.

 

you should easily be able to find a fusible link in the electrical section of the auto parts store. Alot of times, the wire is yellow or red or something. They don't sell GM specific ones, I believe they are for GM/Chrylser applications.

they are rated based on the parent guage, in your case, 14 guage. The fusible link is a stainless steel wire that is a few guages smaller. When you do replace them, do yourself a favor and use a good butt crimp and heat shrink the junction.(the best crimp is a 'bare' one, with the double insulated heatshrink (melt glue inside), so the connection becomes watertight.)

you can verify none of the others are blown by simply tugging on them. the silicone insulation is very stretchy, so a blown one will be easy to tell.

they typically handle alot of current, you could replace it with a fuse, but it might be a big one, maybe 50 amps or more.

 

I don't believe that's true. I have a gm fusible link sitting here that is marked "12" on the plastic splice. The parent wire is 10 awg. The link is marked 3.0 SQMM. !2 gauge wire is 3.31 square mm, so the link is slightly smaller than 12 awg. I would believe that the primary conductor on an alternator circuit is #10 or #12, not #14. That being said, I believe the 14 on the splice represents the gauge of the link wire. I could be wrong. I have other links down in the shed I could check tomorrow.

 

I could have certainly been wrong with the gauge he is using, since I can only go by what he say the wire is. But all the other stuff is true. They base the current rating based on the parent wire, becuase the link is designed to fail before the wire.


You are also right in that most of the ones I've seen are 12 gauge or larger.