Whoaaaa.. Big 3 Caused Fire?

[teamsubgopoof]

sounds like to me you either didn't use a big enough wire from the alt to the battery, or your connection came loose and sparked against a ground.

OR the corrision conducted from the post to the ground...clean it up use some vaseline or corrsion stopper on the post and the terminal

also what type of terminal are you using?

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

Just take your hood off that way if a fire starts you can start driving really fast and the wind will put er out.

 

[jjski78 10+ year member]

See 06'ers are helpful.

I try to be.

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Wires can fall... and bad things can happen.

Were your wires secured...?

nG

 

[Frankensuby 10+ year member]

1. For it to start a fire, it is obvious the current needed somewhere to go with a great deal of resistance. I'd say arc of some sort. We don't have pics of what his spot looks like, so maybe he has the connection frayed/too close to a ground point.

2. DO NOT bother with that car until you disconnect that line. Remember to disconnect the negative battery terminal before working on any part of your engine. When that line is removed, the other 2 lines are only basically acting as a ground. Even though they do help the flow of the current, they are not directly attached to the positive terminal.

As far as the alternator goes, I've never heard of alternator fires that did not include oil or gas spills and then immediate driving (expereinced failure do to oil). As stated before, we have no pics to help you out with.

Just take that wire off, drive it home, and see if there is any burn or scorch marks anywhere on your connection (terminal?) or on your alternator/engine block, etc...

~Levi

 

[knukonceptz 10+ year member]

Corrosion creates high resistance - thus the white stuff all over the terminal. High enough resistance can cause fire as evident by the OP observations.

 

[knukonceptz 10+ year member]

PS -clean the connection and terminal and you should be ok. Baking Soda and water should help clean it

 

[skmfkr 5,000+ posts]

maybe a bad connection and increased resistance > heat > fire

i had it happen it a ground block on one of my amps

 

[MassOccur 10+ year member]

Just take your hood off that way if a fire starts you can start driving really fast and the wind will put er out.

I hope you know that introducing more oxygen ie; more wind, will help a fire continue.

 

[bonesninja 5,000+ posts]

it might not be corrosion....could be that it's the zinc that burned off of the alternator casing during the fire. If it's a galvanized case, it's zinc. if it's an aluminum case, then its the anodizing burnt off.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Loose connection plus moisture plus electrical current plus non-plated terminals will give you corrosion every time. Corrosion ups the resistance of the connection greatly. High resistance will cause a huge amount of heat. The bad connection would also help explain why your battery wasn't charging correctly and led to difficult starting.

The fix is pretty simple. Replace the terminal. Use a gold plated replacement to prevent it from happening again. If the insulation on the wire is damaged (it's probably what was burning) replace it as well. If the wire is properly loomed and protected from abrasion, you don't need to fuse it. I've yet to own a car that had a fuse on that wire from the factory. A fuse wouldn't have made a difference here anyway.

 

[chibahawk 10+ year member]

mechanic said alternator was done... i wish he was smart enough to tell me whether it was the bad connection that did it or the 900W to a 90amp alt.

hmmm

no bass for a while.. gonna have to think of getting a HO or 2nd battery.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

mechanic said alternator was done... i wish he was smart enough to tell me whether it was the bad connection that did it or the 900W to a 90amp alt.

It might be the former, but it wouldn't be the latter. It could just as easily be that the alt was ready to go and burned up causing all your problems. Your wiring might have had nothing to do with it at all. The corrosion might have had no effect. Bearing in the alt might have gone heating up the thing and burning a coil. Without really tearing it apart and looking at it there's no way to tell.

no bass for a while.. gonna have to think of getting a HO or 2nd battery.

A HO alt is pointless with only 900W. There are plenty of people running more power with a smaller alt with no problems.

 

[chibahawk 10+ year member]

well all i know is I'll feel like an *** if I re-hook up my bass to this new alternator and I get the same problem. I'm thinking that upgrading to a 150a alt wouldnt be a bad move or too expensive either.. Although it would mean I just wasted 225 on the replacement.

How do you feel about the 2nd battery? They seem like a decent addition to systems as well.

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

A HO alt is pointless with only 900W. There are plenty of people running more power with a smaller alt with no problems.

A HO is almost necessary to get 900w out of my amp lawl