What in the world would cause an Alternator wire to be missing?

[gferris5]

Just questioning my own sanity here...

I was getting some weird charging behavior in my truck. It had sat for a month or so while I redid the interior and so when I went to start it, it cranked super slow and was hard to re-start once warm.

Checked the voltage at the battery and it was 11.9, and then when running, about 12 volts. Battery came back "bad" from the O'Reilly check, and that's fine. But, the alternator passed its test just fine!

So I started looking around at the wiring, changed the voltage regulator, re-sanded grounds and tightened terminals and then I looked more closely at the wires going to the back of the alternator and lo and behold...


The white wire that excites the alternator looks like it's been cut off somehow? I for the life of me don't remember cutting it, but I can't imagine what would have cut it. The weird thing is that if the wire had just broken, the little clip should still be there. Super weird right?

Can anyone think what might have caused this? Am I right in thinking that's exactly why my alternator does not charge?

Anyway, this is basically a sh*tpost, so sorry to spam the board, but in case people need some help diagnosing things, just a reminder to always check the basics. I'm thinking now time to upgrade to an internally regulated alternator anyway...