I just put my truck back together and have found one thing missing. The fuse box ground.Where does it go? I don't remember and thought that the altenator bracket was it, that was wrong.

 

Also, my alternator is overheating rapidly. Climbed to 240 F by a factor of five before I killed engine.

 

That grounds to once power steering pump bolt, also sounds like your alternator is bad

 

Last monday it was running fine, all I did was take it off and put it back on! I did accidentally leave that ground that is meant for the power steering pump on the plenum and alternator brackets it sparked and I cut it off. Do you think I fried it by leaving that ground there? I just attached as a ground!

 

Let me rephrase that last one. Are not all grounds created equal? I understand that we are on a DC circuit, but on AC circuits all Power share the same ground in a fuse box. Even the alternator has a ground on it, should I not be able to ground to the alternator bracket without frying my alternator?

(Right now I'm just speaking theoretical, for my own benefit in the future, I surely thought that grounding anywhere would be fine oh, but then I looked around and saw that there are many grounding spots in the engine bay, and thought to myself, "maybe not all grounds are equal.")

 

Yes you should be able to ground anywhere, but not all metal is a good ground. The engine has a ground strap from the engine to the body, because the rubber engine mounts make the engine a crappy ground.

 

Burned diode bridge makes the alternator run very hot.

 

After fixing my plenum and ECT's on my truck. I was able to get it started. But I knew one of the grounds were not grounded, but I could not remember if the ground was left off before. So I grounded it to the alternator bracket. Sparks flew, I killed it, and tried grounding elsewhere. The altenator began to get hot and smoke. So I took it off and to be tested, it passed. As well, I purchased another from Pik-a-part and it passed as well. Currently I am running the Pik-a-part altenator. I had the battery charged as well, and so I started the truck with the fuse box ground else where, I also attached my multi-meter to the battery, and when I started the vehicle it dropped to 11.83 volts (obviously not charging). I tried a couple of other things, and pulled the ground form the fuse box off the body, and I am not charging the battery. I replaced the 120 amp fuse as well to be sure. I have checked continuity.

When I removed the altenator to do my repair, all was well, voltage was well, after adding it back on, I have had this problem.

Any clues?

Pictures below.

 

Is that a ground, or is it the power feed from the alternator, to the battery?

 

Also, I tested my Versa's B+ terminal to the grounded housing, I did not get continuity, but when I tested the B+ on my dodge, I did get continuity from B+ to grounded housing.