so my truck has been doing a lot of weird electrical nonsense lately (i'm fairly certain it's the crappy Pep Boys alternator that's going bad, I bought one, it crapped out in a month, and they replaced it with another one that's also garbage). I looked under the hood today and I saw a thick (2 to 4 gauge) black wire just hanging out and not connected to anything. I crawled under the truck to see where it led to. It led to nothing. It was just cut off and it looks like it was cut off a long time ago because the copper wire was green. Then I saw this along the frame (about where the driver's door meets the extended cab doors). What is going on here? Is this a factory ground wire that's just not connected to anything? It might explain why I've had 2 alternator's crap out in the 2 years I've had this truck. What do you think?

I was driving home tonight and if I turned the lights on (wipers, a/c, turn signals, used the power windows, etc) the voltage would drop and come back up making everything quickly dim out. Also, the ABS light would come on and then go back off. ALSO, the ABS comes on when the RPM's are above roughly 3500. Basically any time I use one of the higher drawing accessories, the voltage drops quickly and the ABS light comes on. Today the car almost shut off when I turned the lights on. That's when I looked under the hood to find that wire just hanging out. I think that wire's been like that for way long before I owned the truck. Are these just two unrelated problems or what's the deal? I"m guessing that the voltage regulator in the alternator is shot, but what's up with that ground wire just hanging out?

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PO's attempt to replace a body /frame/engine /dash ground. All the metal in the car is s'posed to act as a ground. and be connected to the - post of the battery. As a car ages , it rusts and connections are lost and wires get brittle ,shrink and fray. Get a cheap multi meter. Read the instructions and save yourself money and time.

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"94 extended cab.4x4/ V6 pushrod 4.0? /5spd/ 600$ .rat. just bought 6/19/11 I'm a noob , teach me the true path to Ranger gooodness O wise ones.

Yeah, I'm guess that that was the chassis to engine block ground. Should I just run a new wire from that location (clean it of course) to any part of the engine block?

most importantly, do you think my problem is the voltage regulator in the alternator? I'm probably just going to order one asap so I can swap it out this week. And would a bad ground like this cause an alternator to prematurely fail, or does pep boys just suck? haha

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also...I"m not sure what you mean by grabbing a multi meter and so on. How do I check to see if I have a ground issue with a multi meter? I own one and have never used it for checking such a thing. I'm fairly certain I do because my gauges have always done weird stuff (speedo just goes up to 20-40 mph when I'm sitting still) and I can hear alternator wine when I have my cell charger plugged into my cigarette lighter.

Run a wire from the frame to the body. Run a wire from the alternator bracket to the frame.
My guess is that the PO had a stereo amp and ran the ground to the frame.

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really? That wire in the picture looks pretty OEM to me? Is it not?

I'm replacing the alternator with a brand new (no reman) Bosch. I"m 98% sure that the voltage regular took a crap in the one I got form pep boys. The same thing happened to the previous one after 1 month.

The wire in the picture is definitely not OEM. There should a small ground wire running from the frame to the cab on the passenger side....when I say small I mean #12 or less.

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Ok cool..i'm going to be replacing the Alternator on Tuesday or Weds. When I do, I'll track down that ground and make sure it's clean (or there..haha). Anything else I should look for ground wise? I'd like to check all of the main grounds to make sure they are clean.

Buy a multi meter. Without it you are just guessing

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"94 extended cab.4x4/ V6 pushrod 4.0? /5spd/ 600$ .rat. just bought 6/19/11 I'm a noob , teach me the true path to Ranger gooodness O wise ones.

As I already stated, I have own several Multi Meters. I worked in the 12v industry for years in my teens and early 20's. I'm no stranger to the world of automotive electronics. While I'm familiar with car audio and remote staters and all that, I'm not sure how to use a multi meter to hunt down a ground issue that could be anywhere in the vehicle (there are LOTS of grounds within the whole truck).

It tends to be a long, involved process. Measure ohms between where you think you might not have ground (but should) and a known good ground. If there's noticeable resistance, find the ground wire and fix or replace it - or just run a 2nd ground wire. If there's no real resistance, repeat elsewhere.

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'09 Ranger, Reg cab short box, 2.3, manual, RWD

I replaced the alternator with a new Bosch 130 amp from Amazon for 140 bucks. Solved all of my issues. No more rough starts, check engine light, abs, voltage drops, etc. All good. Moral of the story, don't buy remanufactured alternators from Pep Boys. Their voltage regulars fail constantly apparently.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

When the majority of auto parts are made in Asia by underage children, you will have problems. NEVER EVER allow pep boys to fix your truck or even rotate the tires.....pep boys auto centers can screw up a wet dream!

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