Hey, I have an 84 trans am and I just replaced the alternator but on the alternator there is a plug. There is a red and black wire in one hole and a black wire in the other. The red and black one broke and I cant find the other piece of it and was wondering where it goes and what it does because the alternator isnt charging the battery. the car will start with a jump and and the battery is less than a month old. Any Idea where the red wire went or even what the plug does. Thanks

 

Those are the connections for the field windings and voltage regulator. The alternator won't produce a volt without them.

 

any idea where the red wire is? the black one is hooked up but the red one is only an inch long but plugged into the plug

 

IIRC, there should be a red one from terminal A that goes to the battery stud, and a brown one on terminal B that'll disappear into the wiring harness.

 

Since I cant find the red wire, can I just crimp a wire from the terminal to the post?

 

Yes, you might have the entire wire right there, just missing the connector on the end of it. Crimp a ring on it and attach it to the battery stud if it reaches.

 

on my car one wire went into the harness and the other attached to the positive stud on the starter

 

Would it hurt anything if I just ran a cable from the battery instead of the starter?

 

No, but it's easier to just connect to the battery stud on the alternator.

 

Is the plug responsible for charging the battery, because the car will start with a jump but the voltage will steadly decrease from 13 to 11 and then die.

 

Without the plug the alternator will do nothing useful.

 

Hey whenever I put the wire to either the stud on the alternator or the battery post itself the car will not even crank. with the wire off the car will crank but the battery wont charge, any ideas?

 

anybody know?