Alternator fried?

[Justinw303 10+ year member]

Today as I was going to work, I noticed my battery lght was on and my voltage readout in the dash was well below what it should be, so I popped the hood and noticed that I had a lot of corrosion build-up on my battery terminals, which I thought might be the problem, and I also saw a wire where part of the insulation had completely melted off and apparently caught a small fire and scorched the side of whatever was above it.

So when my dad got home tonight I asked him to help me clean off the terminals and look at the wire, and he noticed that it was the alternator and he said it was gone, and I'd need a new one.

Well, he's always the car audio skeptic and love to argue with me about stuff, and because he's never seen an alternator burn up and get so hot as to melt the wiring, he thinks my system killed my alt. But all I have is a single 400 watt amp, and I know the alt is that truck can more than withstand that little current draw.

So I'm asking, who is right? Is this some freak occurence, or is my system too "powerful". He says I'll probably be replacing the alt again in year because of the saem problem if I keep the system, which I doubt, but I wanted to check with you guys and get some professional opinions.

Thanks for reading.

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[Lckmyblls 10+ year member]

sounds like the corosion plus bad wiring caused the death of your alternator....high resistance will make the alternator work over time to keep up wich in turn will kill it....

 

[Justinw303 10+ year member]

Well which "wiring" was bad, the ones connected to the alternator? I'm just trying to make sure it wasn't me that caused it, and I'm fairly confident.

 

[Justinw303 10+ year member]

C'mon, anyone?

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

it sounds like your electrical system was in dismay for a while if you never noticed corrosion and melted parts here and there....so im thinking your elect was having issues long before that 400 watt amp was added...cause 400 watts isnt enough to make your alty sneeze much less blow up directly from that.

good example : I do 600 amp burps with 4 batteries and a 90 amp alternator, my alternator is 10 years old. Still works fine.

Some aly's just get sick, be it diry engine compartments, oil getting in it, etc.... just buy a replacement and go on your merry way.

 

[Justinw303 10+ year member]

absolutely.

Would you be able to recommend a quality replacement that puts out at least 100 amps for a good price?

 

[wilzyx 5,000+ posts]

built to last, duralast

 

[Justinw303 10+ year member]

I'll check it out tomorrow after school, thanks.

 

[headbussaboi 10+ year member]

Do it right and never worry about it again...Excessive Amperage .