mercruiser 228 alternator upgrade

Josephmcg

Seaman
Joined
Aug 15, 2017
Messages
70
hello all, just figured I'd post here to see what you guys think...

engine is a mercruiser 228, chevy 305 v8. alternator died, upgrading to a new one. the new one is higher amp then the old one, so I know i have to upgrade the size of wire coming off of the alternator battery post. however on the older mercruisers that wire goes from the alternator to the starter to pick up the positive lead going to the battery...

instead of upgrading that original wire, which connects to other things, can't I just route that wire to the battery positive post and then run the correct over sized wire from the alternator to the battery positive? this way I won't have to mess with the original wiring.

just wondering if this would be okay and not create other problems?
any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

-joe
 

alldodge

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 8, 2009
Messages
42,569
instead of upgrading that original wire, which connects to other things, can't I just route that wire to the battery positive post and then run the correct over sized wire from the alternator to the battery positive? this way I won't have to mess with the original wiring.

Maybe, depends on how your wiring is routed. There are several different wiring diagrams for you year

Do you have a Amp meter?
Which ALT is being removed and which one is being installed
 
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