Ammeter pegged...

I reread the whole thing including the attachments. The whole MAD - Amp gauge wiring fixing approach sounds like the absolute best way to go.

But for a NON electrical guy, it also sounds like the scariest thing to me to actually achieve. All because I generally fry a handful of fuses before I ever get anything right. It's really annoying and a motivation killer to be some dumb about what electrons actually do, versus what I think they should do.

Tonight, if I get the chance, I'm going to put my multimeter on the battery and alternator as was mentioned in the early part of this thread, and get back with you guys on what I see. However, El Scampo is bound to not foul up whilst I have the multimeter on it. I'll also check the wiring to / from the VR, as well as pull it off, check / clean all the connections.

As far as the MAD fix … where is the starter relay? My mind says there would be a fuse box under the hood somewhere (as well as the one under the dash). I'm fairly certain that the starter relay and the starter solenoid are 2 different things. As I understand it, the starter solenoid is an electrical device that is attached to the starter and is a trigger. It uses small wiring and a small current signal to magnetically pull contacts. Said contacts are large and close the circuit from the battery to the starter (and then to ground), so that big amperage can flow through the starter, but small amperage is used at the starter activation switch.

I don't know, maybe a starter relay might be one in the same thing, just not located on the actual starter. I hope it's not on the starter, as when I decided to install (TTi) headers, I removed the factory starter and used the small starter (I forget the name of it). And I think trying to access that small starter now with the headers on is going to be a beeatch.


7milesout