Prior owner cut the "t" plug on the alternator wiring. Does the red/white wire go to the top or the bottom on the plug? I got a new one from my auto electric store. Trying I get it all right the first go round

You will probably get a response if you tell the year and model of the car

Edited November 11, 20178 yr by pksjeep

FaT one in white no trace goes To The Top of The T . skinny white fella like me only it has a red trace goes to the other

Ea82 carb, I keep missing that. Thanks jono.

Got new connector on alternator. Battery tested good, alternator tested good. Still showing 8 volts on gauges and reading 8.6 on dvom. this tells me my alternator is bad. Replaced alternator and still same story. Could i have a bad ground or not enough ground? My Impreza with alloy block need like 8 to function so maybe? On the alternator there is a stud that has a "e" next to it, does this mean a ground? Also I guess I am missing more ground straps than I thought after searching.Does anybody have knowledge of where grounds need to be? Please and thanks in advance.

There should be a heavy ground wire [about the size of the one to the starter +]  from the bell housing bolt shared by the starter to the battery (-).  There should be another, about AWG10 from the battery (-) to the car body.  Usually, the alternator ground happens through it's mounting bolts. 

 

Voltmeter - one lead on the alternator case, the other on the battery (-) while running, you should not see much voltage.  With everything off, you should see close to zero ohms.

Got main negative battery cable from bellhousing to battery. One similar size going to the strut tower, or should it be like a steel part like the subframe? Didn't think of it before, the fusible links being bad could mess up my day too some I'm going to put he new square ones in like a just read in another post. It just won't charge and battery and alternator is brand new. My Impreza did the same and found out it was bad grounding.

That ground should work, as long as the contact point is metal to metal. (Remove paint.)

 

One of the fusible links is in the circuit from the alternator output to the battery, so if that one is open, or high resistance, no charging.

So DaveT, you seem to be good at electrical. I hooked up my dvom to the battery, tested 13.3 volta car not running. started car and checked battery, it is jumping all over. I'm pretty sure this means my alternator has dumped on me right?

It could be jumping around for a lot of reasons.

Loose or poor connection anywhere in the charging circuit could do that.

That includes circuitry inside the alternator, the car system, and the battery. More tests are needed to pin it down to 1 part. Battery cranKS the car ok, runs headlights ok, so battery probably ok.

Dyplicate the situation when the meter jumps around, put the parking lights on, what does it do then? Add the headlights, what then?

I decided to fall in and buy a new alternator. Before with old alternator, brake fluid, charge light would not come on with the key in on or starting. Car would fire up, but reading only 9v while running. Now I have those lights so I got a little further. I believe I am going to have to rip the loom of and do a wiring job with new wire. The old wire is brittle and it's the only thing that makes sense to me now.