How to: Fix broken Load Signal cable from Alternator

[Maniac618]

delete.

 

[ci7y]

hello all

can this be done without lifting car on a ramp?

 

[RUM4MO]

hello all

can this be done without lifting car on a ramp?

Yes, but you will make life easier if you can raise the front up a bit - making sure it is properly supported of course, like driven on to bits of wood or up on to a kerb.

 

[ci7y]

Great thread...

Found one cable snapped :-(

Made a repair on both as per guide extended cables

All working ok

 

[big.paul]

Have fixed this previously on my car and all OK. Tried to do the same on neighbour's car - soldered in wire to replace both wires through connector (one wire was broken). However, fault still exists (no battery light and not charging unless revved). Has anybody experienced breakages elsewhere on this load wire - maybe between here and the alternator, or the ECU (presuming that is other end)? Plug going into alternator itself looks OK and sound. Cheers

 

[RUM4MO]

Remember the alternator, in this case, might have failed.

 

[big.paul]

Remember the alternator, in this case, might have failed.

Thanks. I tested voltage with a multi-meter. When engine revved up and alternator has kicked in, it's generating 14.4V across the battery so I think alt. is working OK?

 

[RUM4MO]

Can the alternator maintain that voltage when the headlights and rear window heater are on, I was just considering the possibility of the rectifier having "lost" a diode which have explained why it "gets there" at higher revs but is not when revs are low (pure speculation on my part)? So what is next - unplug lead from alternator and see if control volts are there, though you can't take much from checking that out of circuit, but it is something else to check I suppose. No chance that you accidentally swopped these two wire across when bypassing the plug<>socket - again I can't say what effect that would have as I've not studied where the other wire goes.

Edit:- I suppose to check for control voltage, it would be handy to know which pin is meant to be the high side - knowing that would answer my previous question without ripping things apart! (a job for Google?)

Second Edit!:- if the car is high mileage, the brush(s) or the contact faces that take this control voltage into the alternator might be crap = alternator U/S unless you replace the regulator assembly - easy off the car, but not so on the car.

 

[zomby]

Thanks for this post Al.

Although I got someone qualified to fix it, your post probably saved me some money as I was able to tell the mechanic / auto electrician what the probable cause was.

 

[dm222]

What are the voltages that this wires should have?
I just tested mine with engine on and I get 10V at one of them and 5V at the other... Is this normal?

 

[Gazza p]

If your Traction control or ESP warning light comes on after about 10 minutes of driving and won't go off until you turn the engine off, then there is a Strong possibility that your "Load Signal" cable has snapped.

Unfortunately due to a slight Design flaw in the wiring loom, it seems to be a common fault for this wire to snap, so I have taken the liberty of creating a bit of a guide to fixing the fault:

The relative Connector plug is held onto the front of the gearbox by a bracket and can be seen by looking up from underneath the car with the under tray removed. It is located about 3 inches back from the bumper towards the nearside of the car just above the longer radiator hose. It is a Two wire connector block in which my case, BOTH wires had broken off.

Here you can see the connector in its "home" position with no wires attached on one side.

Here's the culprit! Two bare un-connected wires!

As you can see by the state of the connector the wires had quite literally clean snapped off!

I found myself One blue and white and a light blue length of wire Just enough to extend the loom so that lateral movement would not cause the problem again. I removed the wiring plug and used 4x standard red butt connectors to join the loom extension making sure the connect wires were connected to each other.

I then re-loomed the wires together using black electrical tape and used a bit of orange silicone rubber to stop the metal bracket chafing on the new loom. Enough slack was left on the side that had broken for any lateral movement not to cause the same problem.

Hopefully this rough guide to how I fixed mine with the photos will help some of you guys out in the future

Would like to give a big thank you to everyone who has helped out in this matter!
Cheers guys

Repaired mine the same way but now the battery light flashing

 

[Ethanpollo]

If your Traction control or ESP warning light comes on after about 10 minutes of driving and won't go off until you turn the engine off, then there is a Strong possibility that your "Load Signal" cable has snapped.

Unfortunately due to a slight Design flaw in the wiring loom, it seems to be a common fault for this wire to snap, so I have taken the liberty of creating a bit of a guide to fixing the fault:

The relative Connector plug is held onto the front of the gearbox by a bracket and can be seen by looking up from underneath the car with the under tray removed. It is located about 3 inches back from the bumper towards the nearside of the car just above the longer radiator hose. It is a Two wire connector block in which my case, BOTH wires had broken off.

Here you can see the connector in its "home" position with no wires attached on one side.

Here's the culprit! Two bare un-connected wires!

As you can see by the state of the connector the wires had quite literally clean snapped off!

I found myself One blue and white and a light blue length of wire Just enough to extend the loom so that lateral movement would not cause the problem again. I removed the wiring plug and used 4x standard red butt connectors to join the loom extension making sure the connect wires were connected to each other.

I then re-loomed the wires together using black electrical tape and used a bit of orange silicone rubber to stop the metal bracket chafing on the new loom. Enough slack was left on the side that had broken for any lateral movement not to cause the same problem.

Hopefully this rough guide to how I fixed mine with the photos will help some of you guys out in the future

Would like to give a big thank you to everyone who has helped out in this matter!
Cheers guys

I think i have this problem but for some reason i cant view the photos to make sure. Is their any other way of looking at the photos