Gen Light Stays on

Yesterday, I tried starting my van and it had a weird buzzing sound when I would turn the ignition. There was a bit of smoking from the fusible link (circled in red).




So I decided to replace the solenoid and the wiring, but I replaced the fusible link with separate terminal connectors (circled in green).



Now the generator light stays on. Will replacing my terminal connectors with a new fusible link fix the gen light issue? Should I be looking at my alternator wiring instead?

A fusible link is there to prevent the wiring from burning up if there is a short circuit in the system,,,,it melts before the fire starts and disconnects the battery from the truck,,,,but thats not a fusible link,,,,its just a connector with 2 wires in it,,,,,, the #1 item to add  on our vans with old wiring is a fusible link,,,,,,now if you turned the key on and it smoked,,,,,something could be wrong,,,,,you need to connect an ammeter on that wire and see how much current is going through it,,,,,,,,does the wire get hot when you turn on the key,,,,,,is the generator charging?    where was the noise,,,,in the dash,,,in the doghouse?



EVERYONE needs to put one of these on their vans if they know whats good for them!

Thanks. The noise sounded like it was coming from the solenoid. Not sure if the wiring is hot and/or smoking or if alternator is charging, but i'll test the current on that too.

A bit more info: since replacing the solenoid and the connections, sometimes the van won't turn off after turning the key back to the off position. I disconnected the + from the battery and it still runs.

so do you have an alternator or generator,,,,,,,,,undo the little wires on that relay when it wont shut off to see if you got the wires in the wrong place or wrong relay,,,,,,,undo the one that goes to the coil if can tell which it is,,,,

I have an externally regulated alternator. I connected the coil to the same terminal as before, but i'll test that. Thanks

Is it possible I have the connections to the starter & battery posts backwards? This diagram says I do. I'll double check on the part I bought.

No, it's a switch/contactor, and will make no difference if they are reversed. The I terminal is only connected to those large terminals when the solenoid is engaged. Is that a scratch or a crack at the I terminal? Test the I terminal for +12 when the solenoid is open(disengaged), key off, & battery hooked up.  Should have no power there. There should only be power there when the solenoid is engaged. It would make some sense why the van won't shut off if 12v is always going to the coil from that terminal. Not good for your coil either. Or, you may have a problem with your ignition switch which in turn fried your solenoid with chatter from a bad connection and is not disconnecting the run wire sometimes when turned off. Or ???

Seth G wrote:Or, you may have a problem with your ignition switch which in turn fried your solenoid with chatter from a bad connection and is not disconnecting the run wire sometimes when turned off. Or ???

I second that thought about the ignition switch being bad.

I think you guys are right. I got a new solenoid, and with the key in the OFF position, the voltage on the connections going into the solenoid (green circle) were 12v and the other terminals (red circles) had no voltage at all. So we're good there. Then I checked the voltage in the same locations with the key in the ON position and got no action at all. Ignition switch issue? Anyone have a diagram or schematic to help me figure out what is actually happening?

1. The original problem was a short causing the overheated wire. This was NOT diagnosed or resolved by replacing the wire and the solenoid. This still needs to be tracked down and fixed.

2. The Alt light stays on after the replacement. This is caused by a problem in the charging system.

When things are working properly, the light has one lead to the battery, thru the ignition switch. When the switch is on (engine off) that side has power, the other side (in the regulator) goes to ground. That causes current flow and 'lights' the bulb. Start the engine and the battery side has power AND the field relay inside the regulator closes, providing battery power to both sides of the light, so no flow (no light). I'd check these circuits and the rest of the charging system for short to ground.

3. The Ford solenoid is a simple electrical switch AND is a terminal for power from the battery. The Green circled terminal is where the battery + cable connects AND where it goes to power other circuits (the other wires attached). This is also shown in the diagram, and the top left (BATTERY TERMINAL OF STARTER RELAY).
The big Red circled terminal is the solenoid output. When you turn the ignition switch to Start, battery voltage should be present at the small 'S' terminal (small Green wire in the pics). This provides the signal to close the solenoid and connect the 2 big terminals. The big Red terminal connects to the starter, providing power to make the starter work. The other small terminal will be marked 'I' (small Blue wire in the pics). This is to provide full battery voltage to the ignition coil (bypassing the resistor) when Starting only. This is due to the voltage dropping with the starter engaged and working hard, to provide as much spark as possible to start.


NOTE: generic diagram! Click on the picture to see the whole thing. Or save it to your computer and print out a copy. The buzzing may have been caused by the poor connections on the original solenoid shown. Best to still check the circuits mentioned.

Not for sure exactly what the problem was, but I had a buddy come check out my wiring setup. My voltage regulator ended up being fried. We made sure all the wiring was properly grounded and added that fusible link as well as lower gauge wiring going into the volt reg (large green circle). Works great. Thanks guys.