24v 1992 Safari Jumpstart battery hooked up wrong way, now killing alternators
Hello everyone,
My Safari was stolen and recovered 6-7 weeks ago and has been in the "care" of my insurance company since then apart from a few short breaks away (4 times its been back)
Most issues are related to theft however a couple are due to lack of care which brings me here asking for advice.
Second to last time that I collected safari it had flat batteries, in a momentary lapse the helpful person at insurance company hooked up a high powered jump booster battery - wrong polarity.
When eyes adjusted from the arc flash and smoke cleared there was red glowing molten lead melting into top of one battery and a very startled but unharmed man holding clamps.
I should have walked away and told them to check it over but I was tired,fed up and just wanted my Safari back.
The helpful man says try it now (as if nothing had happened), Safari starts I drive towards home.
About 20 min later I am nearly home and I try to wind window down, very slow electric window moves 25mm and stops.
I look at dash, volts around 0 (obviously still had enough to hold fuel valve open)
Got home, phone insurance company but they are shut now, email them and explain situation.
I swapped out my boat batteries for safari ones, safari starts but no charging.
Phone insurance company again in the morning as they had not returned call or responded to my email.
I get them to arrange tow truck and wait.
Two batteries and alternators dead, also the assessor made the comment that they had needed to repair some wire at back of alternator - more on that later..
A week later safari is ready to go again, two new batteries and new alternator.
Safari starts beautifully and runs nicely, alternator charging and with about 1200 rpm volts lifting to just under around 30 on voltmeter.
Life is good and I drive away happy at last.
3km down the road, stuck in rush hour traffic for 10 min, engine idling there is a squealing of belt, I look around to see where from then look at volts as needle pops up from below 12 as squealing stops (was only 2-3 seconds), smell of burning rubber. I open bonnet burning smell goes away, belt is tight, no fire, (reminds me the fire extinguisher was also stolen grrr).
I start it up again all is quiet, everything still works as far as I can tell but I give it a few revs and volts don't move at all.
Phone is flat, insurance office is closed so I carry on home, volts dropping very slowly.
In morning it starts, drive to insurance company and wait for them to open, leave safari with them.
That was Thursday last week.
Got email yesterday from them saying they have killed another alternator and waiting for a third to arrive.
Also they ask why had I replaced the alternator, I explained that as vacuum pump is on the back when I started getting brake warning light flickering I found the vacuum pump was leaking air and decided to replace the whole unit, that was beginning of the year its been fine since.
I had suggested to them that they check the wiring to/from alternator along its entire length to make sure its not burnt through and shorted to anything else - if it was burnt from massive current then damage could be all along the wire and not just at the visible end.
I would myself go through and check all the wiring visually as well as with multimeter but insurance company have it or its at auto electrician.
Also suggested they bypass loom wiring to/from alternator, put a temporary fuse in alternator output and isolate all other circuits to determine in what system the fault is.
Unfortunately being a Japanese domestic market 24v Safari Kingsroad there is not a complete wiring schematic.
I am trying to work through this with my insurance company, I want to get my Safari back. So if anyone has any ideas or has had similar experience and survived to tell others of how it was solved I would appreciate it.
Many thanks in advance.
