I pulled the alt off the '72 Olds Cutlass I am doing for a friend and the plug in wires came out. I am trying to figure out which goes where. One is field and the other is senser according to the minimal manual I have on hand. The brown wire is supposed to be the field wire I know but the alt is not marked. It should have a '1' and '2' from what I see. The terminal I believe to be '1' shows continuity to ground and the other has no continuity there. Which would be the field?????? Will I damage it if I guess wrong ?

 

I just finally figured out how to start a new thread. My problem is that on the 72 Olds Cutlass I am working on I removed the alt and wiring and the connectors were bad and came out of the plastic two prong plug. I have a minimal diagram that says the brown wire is the field wire and the red one is the sensor. I have a brown wire and a blue wire. The alt is not marked, at least not well enough for me to see. I believe a '1' would be the field connection. The top connection reads continuity to ground and the other does not. Which should be the field? And will I damage it if I guess wrong? Here's a picture of it now with the brown wire on the top, grounded, connector.

I do believe I have it backwards from some old photos I just found. I threw in some extra photos of the project too.

 

Your "minimal diagram" is apparently for an internally regulated alternator. Yours is externally regulated. You have one of the oddball alternators with the plug location like those on the internally regulated units. The field (blue) wire should be the terminal closest to the engine in your photo, so yes you have them reversed.

 

Thanks for the reply. I thought that might be the case.