So far here is what Im seeing: power makes it to the alternator, power makes it out of the alternator, all fuses are good...power DOES NOT make it to the starter...the "click" I hear is on the alternator side of the engine, and not the starter side, but the alternator is remanufactured/new
Ok, finally putting my money where my mouth is and trying to fab up a new harness. One issue, the wires on the two plugs are different gauges. Does any electric-savvy person know if this is going to be a problem? On the alternator side plug, two of the wires are 14 AWG and the ground wire is 18 gauge. On the other side plug, the wires are 18 AWG all the way around. I've read conflicting things online and nothing that particularly addresses my application, so I was hoping here someone had some insight. My idea was to split the difference and connect the two plugs with lengths of 16 AWG that brought it up to harness-length.
EDIT #3: Since I am incapable of posting anything here without having to make multiple edits, I'd figured I'd post the gauges of the wires in the harness I pulled out of the van. Two of the wires are 14 AWG and the ground is 18 AWG, the same as the new alternator side plug above. I guess a second option is just to splice in the new alternator plug into the existing harness (especially because my current alternator plug is where visible damage is and is *I believe* where my problem lies), but I figured since I was going through all of this, I might as well start fresh with all new components. Thoughts?
Last edited by AD2101; 11-10-2017 at 11:17 AM.
strangely many years ago in Australia I had an 85 townace, tarragon over there. I had the same issues and went through all the usuals, battery terminals, alternator, wiring and it ended up being the simplest thing. a fuse in the fusebox had a wobbly connection. I know its a long shot but like you id tried everything else and it never crossed my mind. I can't remember what fuse. I'm assuming it was one to do with the charge circuit. without a strong connection the circuit is an open loop. worth a look. go have a poke around.
A reply to my last post in case anyone else comes across the same issue or question. What I ultimately decided to do was to splice the new alternator plug into the existing harness as opposed to making a completely new one. Once I really dug into the harness (the AWG numbers I came up with was from another, damaged harness I had), I saw that the whole thing had been hacked to hell and used significantly different gauge wire throughout the length of the harness. I drove it like that for years with no issues so I'm fairly confident enough that the different size in wires spliced together won't be an issue. I'm still on the lookout for another alternator-end plug so I can still make a new one for when this one is beyond repair.
Thank you!
I'm sure the new alternator plug will help a lot, especially since you found a previous hack job ...
I just want to add that, once, when I had the exact same issue, ...(the click -- no start -- but, battery is good scenario) (I usually had to jump start the van or use a battery charger/starter to get it to start) ...what we found was a wimpy ground wire from the battery box area to the chassis ... we fabbed up a huge gauge new wire with nice terminals and with thet great new ground, the problem went away ... just in case you have't done this already
wow thanks for this post, ive been having this same problem. ill have to give that a try and see if it resolves it. hopefully it makes my Christmas dash go away too but I think that may be a harness issue as well on mine.Originally Posted by Tan Van
i cant seem to post pics from my phone anymore but just a heads up with the $7.50 ebay alternator plug, the 2 i ordered had 2 wires in the wrong spot..otherwise the quality seems just fine...that is all
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