Where does the alternator wire from a Cali truck go from the alternator? Need to replace the wire,

Thanks

 

well if its like most things in California it goes the wrong way. .. Sorry Bro you set yourself up . I honestly do not know if there is a difference. My truck was sold in Cali, but I have a sneaking suspicion that its an export version of some sort. And its parked about 90 miles away so I can't look at it at the moment.

 

Which wire are you referring to? There should be at least 3 tied to the alternator. 2 small wires in the connector and one largeish wire that would go from the alternator to the glow plug relay(or possibly controller in your case) and IAH relay. Then over to the fender mounted starter relay, if you have one of those. If not then I'd guess the passenger battery. There's a fusible link in there too before it connects to the fender relay.

 

Thanks, it is the large wire that I need to replace, since the California trucks don't have a GP relay, and the wire is wrapped on a bundle...I wasn't sure of the routing

 

I'm not familiar enough with California's regulations on these kinds of things, but won't the loom have to be opened to install the replacement wire or else risk scrutiny of the Smog *****?

 

I'm fairly certain that it runs over to the passenger side above the wheel well to a solenoid.

 

my Excursion, as all Excursions are, is a California version,
and the output wire goes to the Driver side battery.




it won't make any difference,
IF,
the cross over cable is Big Enough, which mine is.

both batteries show the same voltage within a few milliVolts.

 

almost ALL excursion are California versions, I have worked on 1 that wasn't.

 

well, that is the "Internet" for you, never assume it is totally correct....
just mouthing off with what I read from a "trusted source", ahem.

 

I believed for years that all excursion were California, because everyone said they were!

 

John, thanks for the input and Pic ! Your setup, while nice, is clearly not factory, I've already upgraded my battery cables to 3/0, now it's time for the alternator wire.
Just trying to understand the factory routing, I'm assuming that the Ford Electrical Engineers had a reason for the routing that they developed.

Mike

 

would you believe, the shortest length of wire, pushes the Engineers to select a certain routing?

 

Why?

The alternator B+ charge wire is also wrapped in a bundle on 49 State Federal trucks with traditional glow plug relays.

Either way, with either type of glow plug relay or control module, with either type of emissions equipped truck or Excursion, California or Federal... if you want to replace the big black alternator wire with the orange stripe, some tape will need to be unwrapped, some split convoluted wire protector loom will need to be separated, and some splices may need to be cut, unless you also replace the power supply to the intake air heater relay, and all the fusible links.


So is this the only reason why you "need" to replace the OEM alternator wire?

To oversize it to 3/0 to match the new aftermarket battery cables?

There is no failure or repair involved here that you are trying to remedy?

You just want to increase the current carrying capacity of the wire?

Why?

Did you increase the current production capacity of the alternator?

If not, that's OK. You can still increase the current carrying capacity of the existing alternator's output... without tearing your OEM wire harnesses apart.

Just add another wire, 3/0 if you like, from the alternator to each of the batteries.

Then you'll have all the current carrying capacity of the OEM wires, plus the additional capacity of the wires you added.

The current won't care. It will follow the path of least resistance.

Just be sure to individually fuse any wire you add.

As for the OEM GPCM wiring:

Pay attention to the "BK-O" circuits (Black w/Orange stripe power supply leads that are fused with twin 12 gauge fusible links) in the diagram below.




To see a physical rendition of the same Black w/Orange stripe wires, and how they enter the connector shells of the GPCM, here is a photo that shows the BK-O wires closest to the viewer in each connector.

 

Y2kW57
Thank you!

As to the "why" because my battery wires were 20+ years old, needed replacement. Bought a bunch of 3/0 welding cable, and FTZ marine grade power lugs. Replaced the batt cables on the F250, the F350 and boat (3 batt system).

Respectfully

Mike

 

7.3 excursion here. The wire goes from the alternator to the gpcm as seen in my photo. You can see both and it's the black with orange stripe.