1-wire Alternator burned out? Any one got experience?

[bigmanjbmopar]

Think I may have inadvertently burned out my 1 wire tuff stuff alt. had it loose while installing water pump pulley and re tighten to find out the belt slipped, got a pry bar and got it nice and tight, few days later I noticed my battery was dead, jumped it and seems fine another couple of days dead again, replaced it with a spare one and seemed fine then again day or two later and it's dead or real low,

noticed when I disconnected the batt leads there was a spark telling me there is a short to ground somewhere, checked a few things under the dash nothing, then while going through the msd troubleshooting section and starting to unwrap harnesses I bumped the alt pulley and it was dam hot, put the thermo on it and it was 106° too hot to touch, holy cow!

Also when putting back the the positive lead there was a big spark and I heard a zap at in the alt area. so I am wondering if the built in regulator fired on me but was it due to the belt being too tight????

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Bump

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Got the replacement alt, and nothing, MSD 6AL is bad, in the process of ordering a new one. man this sucks, had the alt tested and it failed, fried not only the MSD but the alt all in one fell swoop.

 

[snakeoil24]

Big you need to install a three wire alternator, these one wire units have a simple external Regulator mounted to the exterior case and just frog everythng.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

That would mean I would have to install a regulator with a ballast resistor again. which is going in reverse, MSD says not to do that but you can run a reg with out a ballast, plus I have already purchased the new alt and at $250 its not going back now. No worries, I think the catastrophe came when the alt failed and drained the battery and I jumped it to get her going again, then instead of fixing things I just swapped batts and had to jump again which ended up frying the MSD box, just hoping my distributor isn't smoked as well.

This is what happens when it's super hot outside, you have little to no patients and just found out you have a disease. and wanted to go for a ride in your mopar. Oh well they don't call it a money pit wife and family remover for nothing right?

 

[Yatzee]

Here's your best and cheapest option to remedy this situation (less the alternator). It's tried, proven and in high demand. First buy a MSD Blaster SS coil ($49 Summit) then call FireCore and buy a capacitive discharge distributor ($149). Trash the MSD, pitch the ballast resistor and connect the three wires from the distributor. If you can't afford a new dizzy Mopar actually made capacitive discharge units but I don't know the series numbers. If in doubt talk to the good folks at FireCore and I think you'll be pleasingly surprised. Second option, buy a new MSD box and bite the bullet. In this world of ever changing technology don't think for one minute that MSD is the only game in town.

 

[383man]

There is no reason you have to put a ballast resister on the car if you go to the external regulator. The ballast resister has nothing to do with the alt or reg. On the stock charging system the alt and reg just pick up its 12 volt key on feed from the same J2 circuit that feeds the ballast but like I said it has nothing to do with the alt/reg circuit. I see alot of race cars using the one wire alt and it has worked fine as far as I know. No reason you cant use one if you have everything hooked up right and all connections tight. Ron

 

[bm02tj]

The alternator was bad or you have a short some where
If you boost your car with a running vehicle you stand a chance to fry electronics as the voltage spikes the instant the boosted car starts

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

So I have the MSD coil, and the firecore distributor, everything was fine for a few years now problem all started when the alt stopped working and the battery went dead and I didn't catch it, then jumped started the car a few times and fried the MSD box. The only unknown at this point is the coil and the distributor if they survived the surge.

One thing I will admit I did wrong, when first installing the 440 I powered the MSD box right off the alt + post and grounded it to the body. this may have led to its destruction from the surge since the alt was fried and jump starting it meant putting power to a shorted out alt and trying to push 12v to the msd guess what? lol, I am now re wiring for direct battery connection for both - & + with #10 wire.

The firecore distributor is a nice part best of both works with the vac advance if you want to use it and great mech adjustments without having to change springs for easy adjustments.

I have considered a different set up other than MSD box and before I buy a new 6420 replacement box I may take a look at the pertronix box is there another unit that is considered bullet proof?


PS, when connecting the battery terminal to a freshly charged battery, if you see a spark at either terminal you have a short, this was the case with the bad alt it caused a big spark at the pos term and I still tried to jump start knowing better. I have no patience!

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Anyone want to see what's inside your MSD 6AL 6420? Also what blew in mine

red arrow points to the SCR that blew





Fuses now just jumpers

 

[MT_Mopar]

Hey Bigman, sorry to hear your electrical woes, that is a bummer. Hope you get it all fixed up soon!

I wanted to let you know that I have had great perfomance with the Summit CD Ignition box:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-850610

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Ooo that looks good and for a good price too thanks for the link may give it a try. The instructions look just like the MSD ones except with Summit pictures lmao makes you wonder?

I wonder if the mounting holes are the same? that would be nice

 

[MT_Mopar]

I think the MSD is a smaller box, here is what mine looks like.

Good luck!

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Hey can you give me measurements? I mount mine in the same basic spot a little lower.

Just pulled the trigger on a new one so should be able to see it work this week some time.

 

[MT_Mopar]

Hey can you give me measurements? I mount mine in the same basic spot a little lower.

Just pulled the trigger on a new one so should be able to see it work this week some time.

Good deal, let us know how it goes. Here are the measurements.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Same as the 6AL box

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Got the summit box installed last night and she fired back up to life with a vengeance lol. Got most of the wiring cleaned up. The box lined up with the MSD mounts perfectly.

PS there is a ground lug on the back of the 1 wire alts, it's optional to use it or not I decided to uses it this time, otherwise the case gets it ground reference from the mounting bolts.

 

[MT_Mopar]

Good deal bigman, better test to tire roasting option just to ensure that feature is still functional!

:headbang:

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Yep did that today, is good as new love hearing barking tires after a smokey launch hitting 2nd gear lol