Expert: Sean Halliday - 9/28/2007

Question
QUESTION: When I turn on the ac a wire on the alternator burns I replaced the wire with a very large guage but it still burns.  What do I do?

ANSWER: You will need to take it to a electrician or if you have the manual check which wire it is first.I have no idea as you didnt say what car or model.......year etc...each car has so many different wiring set ups its so hard to guess whats wrong.Burning wires are not good no matter what the cause,its a fire risk,so have it looked at.

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QUESTION: Sorry it is the Positive terminal on the alternator the car is a 94 Nissan sentra.  The wire appears to go to the positive terminal on the battery.  I am sure it is positive.

Answer
Its unusual for the A/C to have any wires going direct to the battery.Or the alternator, as the compressor nearly always has only 1 wire and it goes into the loom.I would get the wiring diagram and look at it.It may be someone has wired the a/c direct to the battery.I would really need to see the diagram because i have never seen this happen.The other cause may be a short in the A/C compressor so i would not use it until you get this fixed.Remove the wire from it also.You would still be better have a tech look at it because if this wire burns it may cause a chain reaction and set your car on fire.