E36 328 charging problem

[Drifter17a]

Hi all,

After 2 years of my car been off road, i got a new battery and atarted the car and boom it started

After few minutes it turned off and battery was dead

I suspected it might be alternator so I did a multimeter test and could not see more than 10volt at battery which suggets alternator is gone


Further investigation showed even if i connect the battery on its own, the car drains it without anyhing been on within minutes

I realised the alternator also has a burning smell with battery connected and engine off


It seems like alternator is drawing current from battery so badly that in 3 minutes or so the battery is drained from been fully charged

Could i have some sort of short circuit?

[Drifter17a]

issue seemed to be with AC itself

it was short ciruiting so once ac replaced, problem is solved

i found the problem after I did a continuity test between positive and negative terminal and there was continuity which there shouldn't be
after removing all fuses and relays, the continuity was still there so i removed the ac positive / B+ cable and it stopped


this along with burning smell suggested an alternator fault

although once i opened the alternator, i can't see anything wrong with it.
brushes were all fine so not sure what was burning inside of it
it can't be the winded wires, can it?