Alternator to starter wiring harness

[dphatch]

Just finished installing a new alternator to starter cable and the thought I'd share a couple of pics of the old cable, a hint on replacing the ac compressor and the results of the install.First a couple pics of the old cable.Note where the rubber insulator melted to the attachment lug to the starter. You can also see some melting of the plastic cable wrap at the lug and a little further down.Little better pic of the melted point on the cable wrap. Might just be from engine heat but this cable doesn't come in contact with exhaust headers at any point in it's routing.This is a pic of the new and old cable starter attachment lugs side by side. New cable appears a bit thicker than the old and, as you can see, the primary attachment lug for the starter is a good deal more robust than the old one.As for the procedure, my thanks to equinox's DIY on the subject on 6speedonline.com, without which I would not have been able to attempt nor complete the swap. One helpful hint I might offer to his writeup is shown in the pic below.To simplify the re-install of the ac compressor I attached zip tie to the rear most bolt to keep it up and out of the way during the re-install. once I had the compressor back in place and had re-installed to two bolts in the front of the compressor, I cut the tie, holding on to it make sure it didn't wind up in nether regions of th engine bay, and the bolt fell right into place. Overall the install is challenging but not impossible if you have a fully stocked tool chest and some free time on your hands. The OOP savings over what a dealer would charge you will almost buy you a new set of Michellin Super Sport tires.As for the outcome, the difference is nothing less than amazing on my car. Can actually start the car with radio and AC on immediately after shutting down a fully warmed engine in the dead of summer and the car had not been on the trickle charger for at least 5 days. I started the process of removing the old cable a few days before the new one arrived and finished the day after. And while this wouldn't be a big deal on any other make of car on the planet, it is on this model 997 and well worth doing if you experience slow starts when your engine is hot.

Edited July 31, 2013 by dphatch

[rob545]

Great write-up! Thanks for the tip. My 997 certainly does not give one that "warm and fuzzy" feeling when turning over after being warm. Especially down here in So Fla in July!

[spiffyjiff]

As for the procedure, my thanks to equinox's DIY on the subject on rennlist, without which I would not have been able to attempt nor complete the swap. One helpful hint I might offer to his writeup is shown in the pic below.

you dont have a link to the DIY do you? your link just brings me back to the top of the page and i searched RL but couldnt find any posts by "equinox". i am planning on doing this sooner or later so would like to find all the DIY's i can. thanks!

[dphatch]

As for the procedure, my thanks to equinox's DIY on the subject on rennlist, without which I would not have been able to attempt nor complete the swap. One helpful hint I might offer to his writeup is shown in the pic below.

you dont have a link to the DIY do you? your link just brings me back to the top of the page and i searched RL but couldnt find any posts by "equinox". i am planning on doing this sooner or later so would like to find all the DIY's i can. thanks!

Here are the two links I referenced. Equinox's was the original poster of the process and the second guy added his thoughts after doing the install using some of Equinox's original post. Got the website wrong in my post above. Was not rennlist. Good luck and if you have any questions let me know.

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/997/263679-high-mileage-06-carrera-s-journal-equinox-4.html starts at post # 53

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/997/289189-3-8s-how-replace-alternator-cable.html

I did not remove the AOS to get to the cable as it wasn't necessary. As for the cable, If I had a heavy duty cable cutter I would have cut the lug ( heavy attachment point where the starter and atlernator cables attach to each other ) off the old cable to facilitate it's removal from the car. New cable is much easier to put in with the new lug in place because the cable is more supple. I tied a standard house hold conduit gound wire to the new cable at the lug to help guide it into the engine bay from above. Two sets of hands would be better but I only had a one. One more thought, remove the clips from the old cable before attempting to extract it. The cable comes with new ones so study how they work before you remove the old ones. I removed from the new cable before installing it. They can be re-installed once the cable in in place.

Edited July 26, 2013 by dphatch

[Uwon]

dphatch, thanks for sharing.

Cheers.....