2005 Vibe base, bottom of the line model, 215K miles, good stuff...
Battery light comes on a couple days ago. 8v on the system. No charging... No kidding...
Get to looking... Find the 100 amp ALT fuse in the relay box by the battery kinda melted in there. The fuse is melted but has continuity. At the moment, I've got the fuse kinda mashed in there with some foam jamming the fuse in there between the relay box cover and the fuse box itself. There is no parasitic draw, battery doesn't die overnight, doesn't show any ridiculous draw with the engine running.
So...question is...
I'm looking at the wiring diagrams in the Chilton's manual, which by itself kinda sucks...
Question #1 - What is the correct wire gauge for the wire that leads from the alternator to the battery positive terminal?
Question #2 - I'm sure the 'rail' in the fuse box is pretty much toast as far as the ALT fuse placement itself goes. Getting a whole fuse box isn't going to happen. My plan is to bypass the OEM Alt Fuse with another 100 amp inline fuse that'll run between the alternator output and the positive battery terminal. Sounds good to me. Probably use a 50 amp fuse for testing since the only current going thru that particular wire will be charge current.