Charging issues

[dsagona]

I’ve been having charging issues for a few weeks now and I think I’ve finally figured out the problem after replacing the alternator, battery, fusible link, and battery cables. It looks to be an issue with the B+ terminal wiring. I noticed a loose wire in the loom, and it turned out the wire going to the B+ terminal was completely seared off. It looked like the PO tried using a butt crimp on it at one point for some reason and that finally failed. Soldered the wire back together, but the battery was still reading around 12.5 volts when running. I removed some tape that was around the wires, and found this connection with another wire to nowhere. The loose wire is coming from a loom with a bunch of other wires. The wire I resoldered to the B+ wire is coming from the fusible link. Should this wire be connected to the B+ terminal wire too? The car is a 1984.

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

There is a B+ wire which runs from the alternator to the fuse box and on to the battery. There is a separate S (sense) wire, which should go from the regulator to the B+ wire very close to the fusible link, without any intermediate connections or splices.

You can see the factory splice in your first picture, partly covered by blue tape. The dead end after this is where the factory cut the S wire. This is normal and not an issue.

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

On mine (1989 BJ60), the B+ wire goes via the fusible link to the battery terminal. Yours seems to go direct to the battery with a splice to a fusible link. I'm not familiar with FJ60 wiring, but that seems wrong to me.

Also, I would be suspect of the burnt connection in the white wire which you soldered. Are you sure the wire is good? If it were mine, I'd replace that section.

What's under the old black tape in the first photo?

 

[dsagona]

I cut back the white wire a bit more just now to see if that would help, but nothing changed. The black electrical tape was from me covering up the heat shrink as another layer of protection. I removed it in the pictures below. Here are a few zoomed out pictures of the wiring. Does anything look amiss? I’m at a loss right now. I’ve tried swapping the alternators a few times as well just in case the new was one bad, but that did nothing. The charge fuse has been swapped as well.

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Ah, I see the full picture now. Your alternator is very close to the battery, and the fusible link is between the battery terminal and the splice. That looks correct.

I'm not familiar with your vehicle, is that an internally or externally regulated alternator? Maybe check there are the correct number of wires attached. In my experience internally regulated alternators have three wires (sense, charge lamp and exciter) in addition to the B+ connection.

 

[dsagona]

The one I have is externally regulated. The regulator is bolted to the top of the alternator.

I think I may have fixed the issue somehow. The most recent thing I did was test the ignition relay by connecting it to the battery. I heard the clicking inside, so I popped it back in the truck, and the volts seem to be reading higher. I’m not sure if that relay got stuck. I’ll report back if something changes, but hopefully this thread helps someone. I really appreciate your help and walking me through some troubleshooting.