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Can I use this Alternator? 99 Explorer

spatacuulous

Full Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
169
Loc.
philadelphia
Recently Dumped a 1999 Ford Explorer 5.0 into the Bronco. Still don't have it running yet, but just got the harness from RJM finally. Looks awesome and the instructions are easy too.

The Alternator that came with the motor, can I use it? It has some sort of plug that goes into it with three prongs. It's made by motorcraft. Any ideas? Any at all would be a great help.

Thanks!!
 

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lars

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Jun 29, 2001
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NorCal flatlands
Recently Dumped a 1999 Ford Explorer 5.0 into the Bronco. Still don't have it running yet, but just got the harness from RJM finally. Looks awesome and the instructions are easy too.

The Alternator that came with the motor, can I use it? It has some sort of plug that goes into it with three prongs. It's made by motorcraft. Any ideas? Any at all would be a great help.

Thanks!!

Lots of us with Explorer conversions use that alternator. As long as it's working, it'll be fine. 130 amps. Get the mating connector; a 3G connector will work fine, you can find them on various Fords in junkyards- Tauruses likely being the most common.

Only 2 terminals actually do anything, the outer two. If you get a Taurus 3G connector it will have 3 wires, you can remove the middle one.

Connect the wire closest to the passenger fender to the green/red wire that used to go to your voltage regulator.

Connect the opposite wire to the positive battery terminal on your starter relay, but graft a short piece of 18 gage fusible link wire into that wire to protect it.

Using a 4 gage or heavier wire, connect the stud on the alternator to the positive battery terminal as well. Some people (myself included) put a large fuse (125 amps in my case) or a circuit breaker in this wire, in case of a voltage regulator runaway. Some argue that it isn't necessary.

Don't connect the charge wire that used to connect to your old alternator to anything- tape it off so it can't short out. You'll lose the ammeter function by doing that, but if you were to hook it up and the voltage regulator in the Explorer alternator (regulators are built in to nearly all modern alternators) were to go bad, you could get 200 amps+ going through that wire, and it would melt and possibly catch fire before you could do anything about it.

If you want, you can replace your ammeter with a voltmeter. Do a search here; several threads cover this mod. It's pretty simple.
 
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spatacuulous

spatacuulous

Full Member
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Mar 21, 2005
Messages
169
Loc.
philadelphia
Lars- Awesome response. Thank you. I have a centech harness on there right now and I believe the instructions have a section on eliminating the external regulator. You're saying this alternator has an internal regulator?

Stupid question- What is the difference between fusible link wire and an inline fuse?
 

RRRAAAYYY2

Bronco Guru
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Nov 10, 2004
Messages
1,684
Loc.
Brantford, Ontario
Fusable link is a peice of wire that is meant to melt quickly if you put too much power through it. It is a cheap alternative to a fuse, which is a cheap alternative to a breaker.
 

lars

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Since Ray is monitoring this thread, I should point out that he and others have noted that the Exploder 4G alternator (what we are talking about here) is apparently not one of Ford's best efforts. Mine has been holding up fine, but Ray can tell you what to look for better than I can.

As for eliminating the regulator, there isn't much to do. If you haven't finished the harness install, then there is literally nothing to do, since the regulator wiring is an add-on. If you've already installed the regulator, disconnect the green wire (labeled "Reg S" in Centech's literature) from the regulator connector. It is the same as the OEM green/red wire I described in my first post. Connect it as described previously. Then remove the regulator itself, the orange field wire and the yellow "BT" wire which connects to the starter relay. Done. Make sense?

Apart from any other advantages, one of the nice thing about internally regulated alternators is that they get rid of a bunch of wiring, and thus failure modes.
 

Ryan

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Aug 29, 2003
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739
Loc.
Lansing, MI
4G harness that plugs into the RJM harness
http://rjminjectiontech.com/?p=7
4Gharness.jpg
 
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spatacuulous

spatacuulous

Full Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
169
Loc.
philadelphia
Ryan and Lars, You guys are the best. That's what was in that seperate bag that came with the harness!! This is just to good to be true. Thank you all so much for your efforts. I am spending my night in the garage tonight with what my Dad calls, "My girlfriend". He doesn't get to ride her!!
 
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