Electrical Problem!!!!

This might be a lot to read but I need help! To start with, about 6 months ago my battery light came on. I got it tested and the alternator was bad. Got a new one and replaced it with no problems until last week. I hook up my warn 8274 winch straight to the battery and drove my truck for around two weeks. The battery light came on again last week. Got it tested and the alternator was bad. It was still under warranty so I got a new one. Yesterday during the install of the new alternator i forgot to take off my battery cables. I took the ground wire off of the old alternator and it hit the engine block and sparked. I then took off the battery cables and continued installing the new alternator. After the install I hooked up all the cables to the battery minus the winch cables and the whole truck was dead. I then replaced the alternator fuse with a new one and still nothing. When I try to hook up the negative battery cable it sparks really bad. I'm not great with electrical, please help me!!!!

 

Since you shorted the wire coming off the alternator B terminal to ground Just look for more circuit protection that is open

Just FYI The alternator grounds through the mounting brackets .

Are you sure you have the negative cable ??

If there is a load on the battery it will arc.

something shorted from your little mishap ??

 

Wyoming09, I'm sure that it is the negitive cable. I think that I had a fuseable like running from my alternator fuse to the battery hooked up wrong. The truck is still dead...

 

Please be careful when messing around with your battery and electrical system. Even though it's only 12 volts there are plenty of amps to kill you!
Also it is a good idea to wear safety glasses while working on these systems. You might look like a dork but it beats molten copper in your eyes.
Don't work on electrical problems when your sweaty if you grab a hot wire and are leaning on the truck current will flow though you to ground.

1) The GROUND wire will not spark when it hits the engine block. The engine it's self is grounded. You may have mistaken what it hit or you have the wires confused.
2) I don't have a wire diagram for your truck but you may have/probably have a main fuse or circuit breaker blown/tripped if the truck is completely dead, which leads to #3
3) If your ground wire sparks while connecting it that means you have a power consuming device turned on. Your winch, high powered amplifier, lights, etc. turn your key off and remove it. You will probably always get a small spark when connecting the ground wire if you get a large spark, you may have a direct short from + to ground and as soon as you connect the ground current flows.

Invest in a good multimeter you cant "see" electricity without it.
Get a wiring diagram for your truck. I think a Haynes manual will help.
Double check all of your wires, if you don't find any problems triple check them.
I can imagine that an alternator could have a short in it causing the problem. Was the fuse you replaced in the alt blown? Try disconnecting all wires from the alt and try to reconnect the ground.
Never hook anything directly to your battery without a fuse.

Electrical problems are generally easy, start from the battery and work out.
If you have to, pull out all the fuses and reinstall them one at a time. Then you can check them with your new meter before reinstalling.

The wire you dropped, if it was the battery wire instead of the ground wire or the ground wire hit this wire I bet you blew a fuse to the battery.
Check the simple things first.
Good luck

 

thank you Mr.T. I didn't install the plastic piece that keeps the positive battery cable to the alternator. it was simple fix. the Yota with 326,000 miles it alive again!!!

 

Sweet