Alternator wiring assistance

[Bolzen24]

I have looked through countless threads on here and still have a few questions. I have a 76 CJ5 with a 383 in it. A few days ago after driving it in the field behind the house it failed to start acting like a dead battery. I jumped it off and noticed the battery wasn't charging.

So I tried to troubleshoot the problem starting with pulling the ground off the while running. Jeep died, bad alternator or so I thought. I went and bought a new one, replaced it and same problem...

So I started looking at the wiring. One wire alternator with Battery running to solenoid, one wire running to fuse block and the sensing post jumped to the battery post on the back. As far as I have looked that is the right way it is supposed to be wired. All fuses are good so I am stumped.

I was curious if I could tie the wire that goes to the fuse block straight to the ignition harness bypassing the fuse block. I would put a inline fuse in it. Would that solve the problem of the alternator not charging or running the jeep or do I have bigger problems?

 

[Jimbos76cj]

Before you get crazy rewiring id check the battery.. have you put a volt meter on the output lug of the altenatior. If your getting above 12 volts there its good. If your battery has a bad cell in it it wont let the altenator do its job

Also go and check youre grounds.. you may have ripped a ground loose or had one just break off while driving it in the feild.

I could be wrong but if you want to check an altenator to make sure its good you should disconnect the POS terminal since the altenator should still feed the rest of the vehicle. if you disconnect the ground you create an open circuit and it will shut down.

I would definately make sure your grounds are good, battery is good then look at the altenator. Also have you looked into your starter selenoid? they can just go bad. Does the jeep just not turn over or what happens when you try to start it? Sounds like you have a mess on your hands.

 

[Bolzen24]

Figured it out finally.. The wire coming off the alternator going into the fuse block was not getting juice when the key was on. I found a wire that was hot with key on but no power when i turned the key over (was told to look for this by local mechanic). After jumping the wire the alternator charges the battery and works beautifully. Wish I could have caught the parts store before they sent my old 1 away, would have saved $65....