Issue with Aftermarket Altnernator

[Blackout67]

Have a friend who just got done putting in his altnernator from Autotech in his 05 Focus. He has the smaller belt on there that fits good, 0 gauge power and ground wires and the alternator is in there fine. The harness from Autotech had a yellow wire and a blue wire and the instructions say to use the yellow wire to tap into an ingition source and the blue wire Ig is for the PCM to monitor the voltage level (not too familiar with focuses) and goes to the alternator post. We did all that but the car will not turn over. The dash lights would come on but it wouldnt even click with the key turned. The stock power wire going to the fuse box along with the rest of the stock wires.
My Autotech Alternator was plug and play in my 03 mustang with no issues although from my understanding, the car should still be starting even without the alternator or am I just retarted? I'm not there now I had to go to work but is there anything we might've missed that I can give him directions on?

Click to read more...

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

the car should still be starting even without the alternator or am I just retarted? I'm not there now I had to go to work but is there anything we might've missed that I can give him directions on?

Make sure the power wire going to the starter is still nice and snug on the battery. If it is, put a multimeter to it on the starter bolt. Also make sure the ground wire that goes from the engine block to the battery is snug. If all that is good, try this next step. (Be very cautious on this step) With the multimeter at DC Volts, put the positive lead to the starter's ignition wire. Have your friend start the car to see if you get voltage. If no voltage, check the ignition fuse and relay.

 

[Blackout67]

Make sure the power wire going to the starter is still nice and snug on the battery. If it is, put a multimeter to it on the starter bolt. Also make sure the ground wire that goes from the engine block to the battery is snug. If all that is good, try this next step. (Be very cautious on this step) With the multimeter at DC Volts, put the positive lead to the starter's ignition wire. Have your friend start the car to see if you get voltage. If no voltage, check the ignition fuse and relay.

Yea we didn't touch the starter wire and didn't disconnect any grounds and it was starting just fine earlier in the day. I'll have him check the bolts to make sure they didn't get locked loose or something. He said the ignition fuse is still good where we had jumped the wire so the only thing I can think of is that there is something not connected to the starter or if there is a break in connection between the fuse box and the battery

 

[Deiimos]

Hopefully not some form of anti-theft system acting up. Probably not the issue, but doesn't hurt to look for a theft light on if it has that. My parents had an 03 Chevy Malibu that would strand you in a parking lot for over 10 minutes trying to do the theft reset sequence because there was something wrong with it detecting the key resistance or some crap, was awful. Do the correct sequence, then wait 10 minutes for the light to go out, if it doesn't try again, 10 to 30 minutes later you could finally start it and leave.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

Hopefully not some form of anti-theft system acting up.

IMO that would be worst case scenario.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

Hopefully not some form of anti-theft system acting up.

IMO that would be worst case scenario.

He said the ignition fuse is still good where we had jumped the wire so the only thing I can think of is that there is something not connected to the starter or if there is a break in connection between the fuse box and the battery

TBH I do not know why an alternator would need an ignition source. Usually that PCM wire is the one that "tells" the alternator how much power the battery needs. I would disconnect it and try it that way.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

Hopefully not some form of anti-theft system acting up.

IMO that would be worst case scenario.

He said the ignition fuse is still good where we had jumped the wire so the only thing I can think of is that there is something not connected to the starter or if there is a break in connection between the fuse box and the battery

TBH I do not know why an alternator would need an ignition source. Usually that PCM wire is the one that "tells" the alternator how much power the battery needs. I would disconnect it and try it that way.

 

[Blackout67]

IMO that would be worst case scenario.

TBH I do not know why an alternator would need an ignition source. Usually that PCM wire is the one that "tells" the alternator how much power the battery needs. I would disconnect it and try it that way.

This is the pin layout for the stock harness

From what I've read, the "data link" pins are how the voltage is communicated to the PCM.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

blue wire Ig is for the PCM to monitor the voltage level (not too familiar with focuses) and goes to the alternator post.

So none of the wires went to the OEM pigtail?

 

[Blackout67]

So none of the wires went to the OEM pigtail?

No. From what I can see, the OEM harness is not used at all and the directions sheet did not mention using the OEM at all

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

No. From what I can see, the OEM harness is not used at all and the directions sheet did not mention using the OEM at all

That being the case, then we can rule out something in the ECU being shorted out because of the wiring.
Although I do wonder if the ECU needs a confirmation signal from the alternator to activate the starter.