welding help
Turbo Mini Forums

Bit o/t but im welding a patch on my 200sx n when i weld i always disconnect battery and alternator but i can not budge the two connectors deep down in the bay on the alternator :( i know some say its b.s about alternators not being affected by welding but whats your opinions on it? Or i know a few of you have had sx's any tips on budging these dam things

Edited by D4VE on 6th Sep, 2014.

I've only ever known people to disconnect the battery, no battery, no circuit.

Yeah fair enough i have had that thought BUT is the alternator not connected to body somewhere? Or current get to to it somehow?

Edited by D4VE on 6th Sep, 2014.

Ensure your earth is attached to something clean steel and close to the welding job and you should be ok.

yep, you should be fine as long as your not weding anything on the engine.

My dad worked with a chap (breifly lol) who was doing some welding on a crane in the engine compartment with big stick welder, stuck the earth on the crank pully nut.....

didnt do the lump much good

Thanks for advice guys! SOOO... so far it sounds like my alternator should be ok then if i cant disconnect the damn thing? Aint going to be welding it/trying again to disconnect alt till tomo eve atleast now so anyone object from now to then... lol

I always just disconnect battery and as tom said put the earth clamp close as you can to the area your welding your alt will be fine or it should be anyway

Done now needs redoing lol

Thanks... im liking these answers as obviously i cant shift the alt plug or bolt so with you guys filling me with reassurance so far.. it means i aint got fuck bout with that anymore.. (until someone says otherwise)

It depends, to some extent, on the welding method.

If plain MIG, the voltage spikes induced are fairly low so, as already said, just make sure your welder earth cable/clamps on good clean metal really close to the weld location.

If you are using TIG with an HF start, weld at your peril....
Disconnect and physically remove anything with an CPU in it. ie engine management, ABS controller, alarm module.
The HF (which is also high voltage) start on TIG plays havoc with any electronics, especially CPU based stuff.

Disconnecting the battery does NOT disconnect an HF/HV circuit.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

Just mig, a repair section the size of a shoe? At the rear end of the sill.. i generally attach the earth to the piece im welding n sometimes use it as a clamp to hold the piece in place anyway lol