I was driving down the highway when i heard some clicking behind the dashboard, a fraction of a second later the battery light comes on and the car is dead. Somehow I managed to cross two lanes of rush hour traffic and pull off the road. After I got the car towed home I removed the Alt. and found that the wire in the back (nearest the block) was now in two peices. I spliced the wire back together hooked up the wires, and with a self satisifed grin went to start the car. NOTHING!!! No lights, no door chimes, no starter noise, NOTHING!!! Please help.

The alternator ground wire carries the same current as the big red output wire. If the ground wire broke, the alternator circuit would be open and it could no longer charge the battery. Normally, the light would come on immediately but the battery would take maybe an hour to run down depending on the load. As the battery gets lower the cars electrical system will start doing all kinds of funny things. Check that the battery is fully charged and disconnect it for a few minuets to reset the cars electronics.

THANK YOU AGAIN. Replaced the alt. with one from a junkyard made a new ground and ran new wires, works geat.

TroutSlayer,

Well, you and my dad must be kindred spirits... I think he'll be getting an Orvis tatoo sometime soon!

If you need the wiring schematic for your car, and are in a pinch, hit my e-mail (karmaticlove@juno.com) and I will scan your year (86?) out of my Bentley and e-mail it to you...

The problem is as easily overcome... think Zen and the art of resolving Volvo drama. Or, go tie some flies and get back to it when your mind is clear.

Peace, Jon

What color wire broke?

Was it frayed, cut or melted?

Are the other wires in tact and connected?

From what you wrote, It sounds like the alternator spit out some peices and cut your wires,
if that is what happened, it may have severed wires other then alternator wires.

The clicking could have been sparking from a malfuctioning voltage regular or shorted diodes in the alternator. (look for this if your wire was melted, a shorted battery cell might beat on the alternator too)

An unlikely, but possible senario is you had the bad luck of your battery shorting out at the same time.
With a donner battery, disconnect the alternator wires use you volt-meter and see where power is present.

Start at the distribution block on the driver side fender and work your way to the fuse block inside the car, then to the key and finaly to the alternator (key on for this test).

The deeper you get into it the more you will need schematics for your year, unless your memory is better than mine.

Steve M.

the wire that broke was blue and broke because the last owner gave it a second rate splice. the battery is fine (not an optmia) with 12 volts and i found no blown fuses on the block near the driver side door.

1) My dad would love & appreciate your handle... Senor TroutSlayer

2) Check the fuses, if you haven't already

3) Carefully examine the harness in the engine compartment from its origin to the terminal ends for cracks, fraying, crappy insulation, etc... a tedious, but easy, one hour task at most

4) Also take special note: the harness goes under the engine (alt. wires are in that bundle) and it is a highly prone 240 problem area

5) If you can handle all the subtlties of catching trout, especially on flies, you should have no problem fixing this... post back if you need more help!

Peace, Jon

Thanks for the advice, and is there any other way to catch trout other than on a fly? If there is I dont want to know about it.