Need some help replacing alternator - 93 Cabriolet

1.fat wire to fat terminal. that should be the Battery wire (+ power) 2.green wire to small terminal. that should be the wire to energize alternator (slight + power with ign. on) 3.brown wire is probably ground wire. that will be attached to a stud on the outside of the alternator case (negative). (might be wrong on this).

You can test the wires with a volt meter to determine which is which. ;-)

Hmm.. must be dumber then I thought. Fat wire to fat term.. I got that. I know which one that is. There is a smaller wire..the green one, the comes off the fat one.. I think that's what you're talking about that goes to the small term on the alternator. The other one, the ground one... there is a spot on the the alternator..in fact there are 4 screws sticking out of it that I could attach this to. I assume this is what you r're talking about. I don't recall the old alternator having this..there was a specific screw where this wire was attached. What's the worst that could happen... right? =)

--Chamberlin

I realize yours is an A1, my experience is with A2 cars. On A2 cars there were several alternator configurations. The voltage regulator needs battery voltage (both switched and unswitched). On some alternators the regulator was connected to the fat terminal internally in the alternator (for the unswitched battery connection), on others there were two separate terminals and the unswitched connection was made externally. The switched connection (through the charge idiot light) comes in addition to those terminals. Diesel cars with tachometers had an additional wire to the W terminal on the alternator.

Perhaps your car originally had the alternator type with two battery terminals and your replacement has only one? When you say the green wire comes of the fat one, do you mean it is electrically connected to the fat wire?

Fundamentally, you need the following:

One fat wire to the battery. One thin wire to the instrument panel.

In addition you *may* need: A second, thin, wire with battery voltage at all times. One ground wire. In case of diesel engines, a thin wire to the tachometer.

jbrianchamberl

jbrianchamberl>

Yeah, that's what I meant. The fat wire has another smaller wire kinda connected with it. I believe they share the same insulation. Regardless, the places on the alternator where they connect are very close in fact, right next to one another. I guess that third wire.. the one that's independant of the rest just connects to the outside of the alternator. There really is no other place it can go.

I've got to go out and buy a damn 22mm crowfoot wrench. Believe it or not, I couldn't find one last night at several hardware stores. I've never tighted the belt on the alternator and to put it back on, you need to tighten this bold on a toothed arm tightening system. Seems pretty big but that's what the Benlty book said it was...22 freakin meters.

--Chamberlin

I think you got it!

You might be able to adjust the tension of the belt with a large screwdriver and pry up the alternator. I am not sure of the 93 Cabrio's configuration though. Just be careful what you pry and where you place your "prybar"! Crowfoot wrench could also be a 7/8" IIRC!

Thanks man.... it's off to Home Depot I go. I should have the wrench on hand anyway.

--Chamberlin

Yep...seems to be all set. How tight should the belt be? I didn't do anything exact. My mechanic said for it to have about 1/4" inch play.

--Chamberlin