Just replaced my Alternator on 1988 project car which sat for 19 years. Still not charging. Someone changed the battery cable ends to top post. There are 2 main wires coming off the positive post. One goes to the alternator the other the starter I believe. Off of the Alternator wire there are 2 more wires molded into the casing. One black and connects to red at the connector which goes to the fuel relay the other is orange which I have no clue where it goes. On a previous thread it was determined that there was a break in the black-red wire going to the fuel relay as this should have power all the time. I fixed that thanks to you guys the car runs! I took apart the connector on the orange wire and it has 12 volts so there's no break in the wire there.

One post said there was a Battery light on the dash and if it's blown out it would not complete the circuit or enough resistance to kick the alternator on. I tore apart the dash. No battery bulb. Ugh.

The plug going into the alternator has three wires (Red, Tan and Black) Red is hot all the time. Tan is Hot when ignition is on. Tan wire tells alternator to switch on I believe. Black wire ground? I am not sure why I am only getting 11.8 volts at the battery and car is only running off the battery.

I suspect that maybe the cable from the positive to alternator is bad. I did a continuity test and it's not an open line.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Found my issue. Bad cable from the alternator to the battery terminal. I bypassed the using a 6ga starter cable from Advance Auto. I bought a crimp connector to shorten it.