Smokin!

[68FORDJBM]

Just attempted to hook up my battery after 1.5 years and a brand new motor and there must be a serious short because the wires stared smoking back towards the alternator. What the hell was that? Bad ground, battery? Help

[68 Ford Stepside]

Sounds like you have a dead short somewhere. Maybe a pinched wire or harness in between something you put together when installing the new engine. Hopefully you didn't hook up the battery backwards by mistake.

[68FORDJBM]

Pretty sure the battery was hooked up the right way and nothing in the wiring changed except a new alternator which I spent several posts figuring out how to make absolutely sure was hooked up right. maybe one of the wires is pinched and grounded to the block on the alternator.

What kind of damage can a dead short cause besides burning wire insulation. I'm hoping it looked a lot worse than it was. It will be a few days before I can get back in and access the damage and figure out the source

[68FORDJBM]

Alternator was hooked up correctly. The wire that shorted was the thicker wire coming off the positive side of the cylinoid all the way down to the alternator. Do you think it fired my cylinoid and voltage regulator. I have no power to my headlights and those use to work - direct link to the batery, right.

Batttery hooks up without shorting when alternator is unplugged.