OT: Escort not Charging

Danny in CO · Jul 1, 2014

I have a 97 Escort 2.0L. It recently stop charging. I had the alternator checked and it was bad. I replaced with a new one. It still wouldn"t charge (the dash battery light is on). I had the battery checked. It was marginal. I replaced it and changed the battery terminals. Still didn"t charge. I thought the wiring connectors at the alternator might be bad. I got another harness at a junk yard and splice into the old wires. Still doesn"t charge. I had the new alternator checked. It checked out good. I also swapped it with an alternator from a 99 Escort I have. The new alternator works good in the 99 Escort and the swapped alternator doesn"t work in the 97 Escort. All the connections are good (I think). I"ve checked them at the battery. Are there any fuses or relays in the circuit? I haven"t been able to find any.

I"m at a loss now. Any ideas where I should look next?

Thanks,
Danny

Jim in Eastern North Caro · Jul 1, 2014

If you look in the fuse box adjacent to the battery, you'll probably find a 100 amp fuselink and a 30 amp fuse that (one or both) are bad. You have sorta done some things that probably were not related to the real problem without getting a good diagnosis; consequently, it may be more difficult to get it back simplified enough to find and correct what is really wrong. A trip to some oldtimer's shop that does alternator work would be a better choice if you don't really understand how auto charging systems work.

souNdguy · Jul 1, 2014

hmm.. an escort that doesn't charge.. sounds like a winner!

on a serious note. sound slike you have narrowed it to vehicle nad not alt. deffinately look for a large squarish fuse, or fuseable link.

JMOR · Jul 1, 2014

(quoted from post at 13:50:15 07/01/14) hmm.. an escort that doesn't charge.. sounds like a winner!

on a serious note. sound slike you have narrowed it to vehicle nad not alt. deffinately look for a large squarish fuse, or fuseable link.

f she doesn't charge, you probably don't want her!

souNdguy · Jul 1, 2014

as the old saying goes.. it's ok to be cheap or easy.. but not cheap and easy..

Danny in CO · Jul 1, 2014

I"m going to have to be more careful how I word my subject line in the future with you guys around! lol

4play · Jul 1, 2014

There are 3 fuses related to the charging system. "Main" maxi fuse 100 amp, "fuel inj" maxi fuse 30 amp, these are both in the fuse box under the hood. Then a "meter" fuse 15 amp in fuse box under the dash

4play · Jul 1, 2014

The fuses from the under hood fuse box should be powered all the time to the alternator. The main/100a fuse powers the black wire, the fuel inj/30a fuse powers the yellow/white wire.

The meter/15a fuse powers the white/blue wire, this wire should have power when the key is on and/or engine running. This is the circuit that also grounds inside the alternator/regulator to turn the battery light on. With the key on and engine off you should see the battery light on the dash. The alternator should still work if the battery light is burned out because there is a 100ohm resister in parallel to the bulb, but this circuit still needs to send power to the alternator

Danny in CO · Jul 2, 2014

Thanks for all your helpful input (mostly). It turns out that there is a wire (white/green) from the alternator to the fuse box that has a break in it. I temporarely ran a jumper wire from the alternator to the battery and it started charging. I will run a new wire today.

OT: Escort not Charging

Danny in CO

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Jim in Eastern North Caro

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souNdguy

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JMOR

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souNdguy

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Danny in CO

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4play

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4play

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Danny in CO

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