Been looking over some of the wiring issues on the 61 f100 I recently got. Noticed that the wire attached to the generator G terminal was not connected. So ran a new ground wire from the voltage reg mounting screw as shown in a diagram I have. Started it up & the wire started smoking like crazy, melted most of it by the time I shut it off.

Any ideas as to why this terminal would be hot? Generator bad? wired wrong?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks
Scott

 

Welcome to FTE

Electrons always take the path of least resistance. The primary ground path in your generator circuit is poor for some reason - something is likely loose, corroded or maybe thick paint.

Here you come along tryin' to do the right thing with some nice bell wire or whatever on a 30 amp circuit and it lit up. The G terminal on the generator is ground, but it is only a reference for the regulator iirc. The way the generator itself grounds is through the mounting brackets and connecting hardware to the engine block, in turn the block to battery, etc.

Get everything cleaned up and bright shiny connections on the block itself etc. Replace the old ground and battery straps, make sure all generator connections are clean and tight and low resistance. Grind down to bright shiny metal on block and frame etc and tighten securely.

Spent quite a while cleaning up everything in my 64 rebuilding the generator, used NOS Motorcraft regulator, and it runs 15 volts (generators actually run hotter than alternators @ spec) even with the headlights and heater blower on.