Is it my alternator?

[Cubey]

I watched this guys video above a couple times and read some things here and there and I'm sort of confused about what happens to the other wires running from the voltage regulator particularly the wire that runs to the tach sensor. Will it still work if I just cap this wire off? What am I supposed to do with that?

IDI tachs don't run from the alternator. They run from a two wire sensor on the timing cover, right next to the engine oil filler.

 

[MtnHaul]

And of course with a manual transmission a tach is just for show anyways.

 

[Cubey]

And of course with a manual transmission a tach is just for show anyways.

Econoline never had tachs as an option at all, until the 92+ generation. My 89 E350 with E4OD has the "tach" sensor for the transmission operation, but no tach.

 

[RSchanz]

One more wire question. I've got it all in there an really just need to connect the green wires. Just want to double check from anyone whose done this before:

I only need to connect the large red charging wires and the green wires, right? All other wires are useless? For example the orange/blue wire that was going into the top of the old alternator is no longer needed?

 

[RSchanz]

In conclusion, I couldn't really follow the video step by step because of my isolator so instead of going to the isolator that I don't need anyways I went straight to the solenoid. Turns on and charges at about 14.4v. Thanks for the help. One day I'm going to go into this thing and get rid of all of the crappy weird wiring from the PO, I swear!

 

[MtnHaul]

I could be wrong but don't you need a fuse between the solenoid and alternator? I used a mega fuse, I think 165 amp or close to.

 

[Nero]

Its definitely not a bad idea. I haven't ran one in ten years.