75 2.0 Going to have the alt. harness replaced. I was wondering if the Alt has a ground strap just so I know ahead of time to order the part. The pet cd showed one, but I never seen it mentioned in a thread.


Thanks,

Tod

I just replaced my Alt wiring harness on my 73 1.7 ltr and it (alt) didn't have a ground strap. According to the DD artical on the bird site, the ground is the brown or D- wire.

Whether you replace the harness yourself or have a shop do it, be sure to reinstall the backing plate on the Alternator.

Search here on "alternator" one of the thread refers to the backing plate. Also, check the tech articles on bird board, they're very helpful.

Good luck!

Alternators ground through their mount to the engine, and the engine grounds through a strap to the body. On the 914, the strap is on the rear of the gearbox.

Ok great, thanks guys. When I seen the strap listed, I wasn't sure. Wish I could just plug in the new harness without going through all BS in removing tin, etc.

James is correct that the alternator grounds through the mount. That said, in many cases the mounting points often need to be cleaned. Quite often there is significant corrosion of the fan housing, and that can cause a voltage drop on the ground side of the circuit. One good check is to put the alternator under a heavy load (fans running, headlights on, etc) and measure the voltage difference between the alternator body and the battery ground terminal.