serialxt

update: despite the rainstorms I installed the 2nd brand spankin' new alternator last night. It still reads 0 voltage when I take it to advance/autozone. I doubt it's the alternator at all. I'm trying to find an alternator pigtail for my tib. It's a '98 Tiburon FX. I've checked at every auto parts store and nobody carries the pigtail, so it looks like I've got to cut one off a dead car.

However, if anyone has one: let me know.

DTN

what is reading 0 voltage?

serialxt

The alternator test at Advanced Auto. When they hooked the thing up and had me crank it, it posted no amps no voltage. this is brand new alternator #2.

Can anyone confirm the alternator wiring goes ALT > Fuse > Battery? It shouldn't go through anything else, should it?

Stocker

serialxt

I've replaced the battery and the alternator (replaced the alternator two times). and am still getting no output.

I'm rewiring the pigtail right now. I wasn't paying attention to what side was pos/neg (i blame lack of sleep) and I'm worried about getting them backwards. Anyone have a pic? If I remember right, with the clip on the plug facing down, looking into the plug, the positive should be on the right, correct?

serialxt

It cranked and tested fine yesterday at 55A idle 86A load. I rejoiced and started using A/C again, and by last night my battery was dying again. I suspect a bad cable either on the ground side or going from the ALT to the fusebox. Cable from battery to fuse looks good. Calling parts dept. at the dealership.

serialxt

I just tore everything apart and I can't see a bad wire. From what I saw (I couldn't access the entirety of the cable to check) the red wire w/blue stripe goes to the headlights from the Alt? (it's the first/larger wire in the alt harness plug)

Also, I cannot see where the tan wire w/green stripe goes. (second wire in alternator harness).

Called the parts dept. at hyundai and the engine harness is obsolete, and so I have to either hit up a wreck yard or isolate the problem so that I can resplice it. I'm kind of hosed, though, because I work two jobs and am doing this before shifts and in the middle of the night.

If anyone has any input/help, please lay it on me. I'm still worried that I switched the wires on the alternator plug by accident. Right now, when it's plugged in the red wire is on the left side if the clip is on the bottom.

ie. (O O) --as if you were looking at it plugged in, with the underline representing the clip.

Stocker

It sounds like you really don't know quite what is going on in this wiring harness . . . you might want to log on to hyundaitechinfo and have a look at the wiring diagrams. It's all fairly straightforward, but if you are fumbling in the proverbial darkness, you're always going to be mystified. As for the wiring colors, you might get lucky but Hyundai changed them from year to year without changing wire functions, and their online references are NOT always correct. It is much more likely you will fix this with a continuity-check or ohms reading function on your multimeter, than with color codes.

Do your battery and alternator a favor, see if you can get a charger or a jump on the battery, before trying to start it again, if it's <12V

serialxt

Thanks, man. I appreciate all the help I've gotten here. I have one more haranguing question: is there something computerized/electrical/etc that controls when the alternator is on or off that could be faulty? I'm thinking this because my original factory alternator would sometimes turn on for 1-2 minutes, and then it'd be back to battery. But I could see it in the brightness of headlights/instrument panels that it was getting extra juice and could tell the very second it cut out.

Two alternators later and It's a similar story. So please let me know if there's something that controls the alt that I should check out.

DTN

Check the tightness on your battery cable... Sounds stupid I know. The battery won't charge if the cable isn't tight. The electronics are inside the alternator.