Yesterday I finished installing a new one wire alternator in place of the Motorola four wire. The guy at the rebuilders looked up the wiring on the original and said to put the orange lead and the purple wire together on the alternator. I did. As soon as I turned the battery on the gauges came to life even though the ignition was off.(??)
I fired up the engine and all seemed OK, till I went to turn it off. Switched the key off, removed it, and it was still running. I went to turn the battery switch off, but it broke in my hands. NOT GOOD! I grabbed a rag and yanked the coil wire out. I disconnected the battery leads to keep from discharging them.

I believe the aternator is wired wrong.
What did I do wrong????

The purple wire is used as an exciter for the old alt it also is the ign hot lead /the orange goes directly to the batt(though the starter hot)

solution- disconnect the purple lead tape off end and forget it exists

the only wire that should be going to the alt is the orange

ie single wire

Thanks, I'll do that.

Question, will the volt meter on the instrument panel still function nomally?

Yes

Yes, however it will most likely read lower than it used to. One wire alternators sense the voltage at the engine whereas the Motorola sense the voltage coming from the dash and compensate for the voltage loss from the engine to the dash and back.

Thanks Wobble, I'll watch for it.
But since the old alternator hasn't worked right for a couple seasons any reading over 10V looks good.

Leave it alone!!! It's hard enough to keep these things running and yours wont shut off...LUCKY MAN!

Lol!

LMAO!!

Turn off the gas to the engine and see if it stays running.

If it does than I would like to buy one of those magic alternators.