Opps with alternator...
 

I decided to remove my alternator to clean up the fan since I am doing a variety of other maintenance and clean up work.

Since I had the battery disconnect in the "off" position I had assumed the electrics were dead. Nooooo. While undoing the red wires to the alternator I got some fire works. Apparently the red wires to the alternator were still hot and I grounded between the red wire and the grounded body of the alternator or other ground state part just by the stud that holds the hot wire.

I undid the battery grounds and carried on.

My question to the experts... what is the likelihood that I did any damage to the alternator and if so what would it be.

Whoa That is weird, you pulled the battery terminal off and it still had juice to the + of the alternator.

As long as the diode was not damaged you will be okay.

Weird :eek:

Most local shops have a machine that can bench test an alt. Best to test first as opposed to putting it together and finding it dead on the engine....

But you have to make sure they have the proper pulley, your FLAPS will not have it, ask me how I know.

Always disconnect the battery. Don't just rely on a cutoff switch. (but of course you know that one now)
The current path would have been through your red cable, directly to ground, so your alternator would not have seen any current spike itself. You should be fine.