Hey guys,
I have a 69 Malibu 350 and Im not sure what the heck happened the other day. I parked outside of subway, gettin a sandwich, and when i got back in to go home, the battery went dead in like 5 seconds flat! it turned over slowly and then totally died. no power at all after that. I called a budy to come give me a jump and when i connected the jumper wires it sparked a lot. and even once connected it was no good. no power at all.
so, i know the car was converted to the newer style of alternator, the si i beleive (side by side "F & R" connectors with single wire on back). so i went and got a new batt and alt. i looked on here and got all the wiring info i could about the alt wiring for the alt conversion. so there was some problems with the wiring. the blue/brown was connected. the red/white was not at all. (the ones that were on the external converter). so i connected them and i think all was done when i went to connect the batt, the same thing... sparks a whole lot! so i know something was shorted out. what can it be. also, my idiot light isnt working/has no bulb/ idk. i know this is a long story but i can use some advice. long story short, i didnt have a connector for the back of the alt, so there is a chance that the wires on the back of it were backwards. and the red/white wires near the horn relay were not connected at all. so it might have fryed a couple things. any suggestions? thanks for anything.

Hey guys,
I have a 69 Malibu 350 and Im not sure what the heck happened the other day. I parked outside of subway, gettin a sandwich, and when i got back in to go home, the battery went dead in like 5 seconds flat! it turned over slowly and then totally died. no power at all after that. I called a budy to come give me a jump and when i connected the jumper wires it sparked a lot. and even once connected it was no good. no power at all. You may have blown a fusible link, or a battery cable is shorted to ground. I would check those first. See pic for fusible link locations.

http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/data/500/medium/Original_Chevy_system.jpg


so, i know the car was converted to the newer style of alternator, the si i beleive (side by side "F & R" connectors with single wire on back). so i went and got a new batt and alt. i looked on here and got all the wiring info i could about the alt wiring for the alt conversion. so there was some problems with the wiring. the blue/brown was connected. the red/white was not at all. (the ones that were on the external converter). so i connected them and i think all was done when i went to connect the batt, the same thing... sparks a whole lot! so i know something was shorted out. what can it be. also, my idiot light isnt working/has no bulb/ idk. i know this is a long story but i can use some advice. long story short, i didnt have a connector for the back of the alt, so there is a chance that the wires on the back of it were backwards. and the red/white wires near the horn relay were not connected at all. so it might have fryed a couple things. any suggestions? thanks for anything.
Alternators with the "F" and "R" markings are usually externally regulated. You can tell the difference between externally and internally regulated by looking at the orientation of the small terminals, see this post w/pics http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105661
What kind of alternator did you buy? To look for the short, use a test light.

To test for the drain, disconnect any clocks and radio with memory, with the car off and everything turned off, disconnect a battery cable and connect a test light inline between the cable and the battery, with a drain the light will be lit. You need to make the light go out to find the drain. Disconnect things one at a time till the light goes out. First disconnect the alternator and voltage regulator plug, then fuses at the fuse box.

so i think ive figured it out... with yor help ofcourse!
my idiot light had a bad bulb, and after goin thru everything i could think of (again, thanks to yall) i followed the wires and realized that the bulb must have been the culprit.
so with all said and done, my car was halfways set up for an external regulator. meaning someone had began the transformation and either didnt finish it or just did it wrong. so now my car doesnt spark when connecting the batt and it starts right up. my idiot light even works. it is suppossed to be on while starting then turn off once car is on right?
thanks to everyone that helped wether it was on this thread or on previous ones i looked at as reference. :thumbsup:

so i think ive figured it out... with yor help ofcourse! :D

it is suppossed to be on while starting then turn off once car is on right?

Correct.

awesome! thanks to all. :hurray: