Replacing Alternator Wire

[Cool Mr Steve]

My car has popped about 7 alternators, so I guess it's about time I give this a go. My wire coming off of my alternator (actually two wires that combine into one) is pretty crispy, so I would like to run a new wire to my fuse box. My question is, do I simply attach a new wire to the alternator and run it straight to the fuse box? Right now I can't see if there are any other places this wire needs to run to prior to the fuse box. I was going to keep the stock wire connected too, by the way. Is this the correct method to upgrade this wire? (P.S. Autozone only had a 4 gauge wire, will this be OK, or does this require a smaller wire?)

 

[AndrewD5418]

4gauge is a big wire... Something small is say.. 30..

 

[D_Eclipse9916]

...........you would never want to run 30....or 20 or 18....Run at least 8 gauge...

 

[AndrewD5418]

...........you would never want to run 30....or 20 or 18....Run at least 8 gauge...

I didn't say to run 30. I was just saying that it was small.

You can run 30, if you group up a whole bunchload of them, but that would be pointless and idiotic.

 

[luv2rallye]

Stock 2g turbo has two 10 gauge white wires that go to the load side (not battery side) of the 100A alternator fuse (it physically connects to the fuse box bus bar that has 100A and 60A fuses on it). You must route yours the same place. If you use a single wire it would have to be a 4 gauge for the same current carrying capacity. This is unrecommended because of it's size and the fact that 2 smaller wires always work better than 1 larger equivalent one (half current in each so there's less voltage drop, better heat dissipation, and some redundancy should one break). But if you really want only one it will work ok.

 

[Xeiros]

While you're looking into your alternator cable, don't forget to check your battery cables to make sure they're in good condition as well.