Alternator smoking when battery put back??

[TRDcelica90]

Today i connected the battery up and was gonna start it.. but as i put on the negitive terminal i heard ticking noises on the alternaator side.. THEN i saw smoke billowing out of the alternator?? white smoke.. smelt like cap gun caps lol..

but why?? never had a prob before doing this.

thanks guys

[CrUZida]

Are you sure the big wire was connected to the alternator, and not just resting against it?

[lexsmaz]

Have you accidently swapped the Battery polarity ? ..

[TRDcelica90]

Yeh i checked that the bat was the right way around.. and i had it connected like that before without any probs..

i will check the big alternator wire tonight.. does this mean my alternator is screwed??

[StuC]

not necessarily but you may have blown a fuse fuses.

[damian]

I would suggest once you let that magic smoke out, it no go anymore

I had the same thing happen to me many years ago, and it was a result of me fitting too powerful a battery into a car. Donor battery was out of a modern 6 cyl (elec everything) Cressida, and put into an old 6cyl (electric nothing) Holden. I managed to fry the alternator before the fusable link blew.

[AndyTTR]

Check that the fat alternator cable isn't touching any other metal part except the post its bolted to.

Sometimes the plastic insulator piece breaks off and the cable will rotate and touch on something metal as you tighten it down.

[SilverRA23]

Hmmm smoke got out of the wires. All bad!

[TRDcelica90]

hmmm well i looked at the big cable and its connected nice and tight. and the rubber boot around it is kinda cracked but i dont think too bad.. looked at the alternator fuse.. looks corroded.. ill have a look around at the wreckers..

Damians point got me thinking.. i did recharge this battery a little while back.. but had it running after charging with no probs..

still popping and smoking.

[Sam_Q]

I would suggest once you let that magic smoke out, it no go anymore

I had the same thing happen to me many years ago, and it was a result of me fitting too powerful a battery into a car. Donor battery was out of a modern 6 cyl (elec everything) Cressida, and put into an old 6cyl (electric nothing) Holden. I managed to fry the alternator before the fusable link blew.

that won't cause a problem

[Hiro]

that won't cause a problem

Agreed. 12V is 12V, and a battery will only supply as much current as is drawn by the system, even if it is capable of much more.

[CrUZida]

Unless there is a fault, and the fuse doesn't do its job, then a large battery will do more damage than a small battery.

[damian]

I agree that in theory 12v is 12v, but in practice i fried a car (it was only a holden, so no great loss) and i definately did not have the polarity the wrong way round when hooking up. I was trying to jump start, but the cars were too far apart for the cables, so i swapped batteries. I had jump started the holden using the Cressida many times before with no problems (battery was on the way out, so a couple times a week), but this one morning, she fried, she fried!

isn't that part of the reason when jump starting you don't go battery terminal to battery terminal, but rather put the negative onto a metal part of the donor car (preferably engine block)?

maybe the car i was jump starting was used to bugger all power, and the fresh 12v spike killed it?

dunno, but i know i killed it

and the donor battery worked fine when put back into the Cressida.

TRDcelica90 said he just connected up the battery, so I guess it was the same battery that was in it before, so my thoughts probably have no relevance then to this problem then? Just throwing ideas out there...

[TRDcelica90]

yeh well i need all the help i can get.. its so strange never thought this was even possible lol.. just random. ive been disconnecting batteries to let all kinds of cars sit for ages. never had ANY prob let alone this crap..

[TRDcelica90]

do i have to chuck this alternator??