Can a battery short kill an alternator?

allenlane

Member
Picked up a new alternator today from Napa, not bad $43 with a core credit. Not sure how long the old one was on, but it had some years on it, and had been working fine putting out 14+ volts until I fixed a manifold leak and replaced the batt tray among other nits/nats. As you guys know, there is not much real estate around that battery and I managed to short the batt against the dash when I was fiddling. Could that kill the alt, or am I just being paranoid?
 
In the real world, probably NOT.

But for a "drama queen" poster on the 'net, the possibility is pretty high,

YAMMV!
 
It depends but shorting out the battery can and will kill other components like a key switch, cutout, or VR. With an alternator though, the VR is built in and the OEM one (VR) should have been removed anyway if the 12-volt conversion was done correctly.

Tim Daley(MI)
 

Probably not doesn't help answer the question and I couldn't find any examples of drama queens proving the failure either. My Napa guy claims that a short can kill the alternator but I'm not confident he speaks with actual knowledge.
 
(quoted from post at 07:57:55 01/31/18)
Probably not doesn't help answer the question and I couldn't find any examples of drama queens proving the failure either. My Napa guy claims that a short can kill the alternator but I'm not confident he speaks with actual knowledge.
f not running, then the alt in not providing an output AND a truly shorted battery voltage is by definition of "short" , zero volts. So no harm to alternator. If you want to deviate from the question asked, then we could and look into short removal. But that would be a digression.
 
(quoted from post at 06:57:55 01/31/18)
Probably not doesn't help answer the question and I couldn't find any examples of drama queens proving the failure either. My Napa guy claims that a short can kill the alternator but I'm not confident he speaks with actual knowledge.

"Automotive" alternators tend to be self-limiting in current output, and probably won't even "excite" if connected to a dead short.

Your alternator is FAR more at risk for damage from a poor/loose/open/arcing connection somewhere between it's output terminal and the battery, and even on the ground cable side of the battery.
 

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