Before I go further - Need some major help.

[Bob_B]

I'm no car expert, but it appears the previous owner was a real hack with the wiring.

Here's my question:

There's a thick black wire going from the back of the alternator into the wiring block on the firewall. Comes out on the other side of the dash and is supposed to go to the ammeter on the dash.

From the starter relay - there's a thick red wire that does the same. It goes to the ammeter on the dash as well. All that makes lots of sense.

I guess the ammeter measures the volts from the battery vs the alternator.

Now for the kicker. The previous owner (cough...hack) has the black wire and the red wire joined together. Then they (both) feed a batch of wires going to the horn relay and who knows where else.

Is this cool? Why? I don't know anything about electricity, but something tells me black and red shouldn't touch. But then again... maybe that's how the battery gets charged.

If you put an ohmeter to the back connector on the alternator and the other end to the positive battery or starter relay, should it make a complete circuit?

If all that is cool, I'll tape it all back up, hook up the dash, close my eyes and put the battery back on.

If not, something went wrong with my tracing.....

One last question.. The block (A,B,C,D etc..) that goes between the firewall on the engine side and the interior - how the heck are those wires plugged in there. I can't seem to get them out...

Need some help. Too scared to hook the battery back up....

Thanks,

Bob

 

[datyrogers]

The po bypassed the ammeter, black on one side of it, red on the other. Go to http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml for more info on what the po did. This is a good site with lots of info.
Don't know about the ohmmeter part, and the bulkhead connector (the big black thing) has the wire terminated into a "hook" looking end, a small screwdriver inserted on the top or bottom (don't remember which) will push the hook in and disengage it from the bulkhead.

-Daty

 

[Bob_B]

Daty:


Bingo!

That's exactly what was done. Only with 12 gauge wire vs. 10 gauge. (Easy fix).

Thanks for bringing me straight to the answer.

Apologies to the PO. He did some homework.

Bob

 

[GotDart]

There is really no reason to change the wire gauge from 12 to 10 unless you have added a LOT of electrical accessories off the main fuse block. The amp guage bypass, if performed per the madelectrical instructions, eliminates all the battery charging current through those wires. Plus, you now should have two 12ga wires in parallel supplying current to the fuse box versus the single wire in the original configuration. In effect, that doubles the current capacity.

 

[Bob_B]

Glad to hear that too. I think I'll roll it out of the garage this weekend and set it a-fire in the driveway rather than in my house.

I think I've got the wiring down now. Just need to wire up the Cuda Rallye into the Duster and I may have a driveable vehicle again. I'm reading up on how to perform voltage tests etc once it's all back together.. to check my work. We'll see. The first project is always full of learning..

Thanks for your help....

 

[Bob_B]

I did notice there is not a fuseable link between the starter relay and firewall.
That must have been bypassed in the past as well. Any comments there?

The diagram mentions a fuseable link (which I assume is a fuse in the line somewhere.

 

[datyrogers]

No fusible link? This is getting scary, I'd start comparing the factory wiring diagram with what you actually have to see what else has been done before connecting the battery. One question, was the battery connected and the car running when you got it or did you get it all disconnected? I don't remember which bulkhead terminal has the fusible link but I'd check there first and start backtracking. The PO may have also done the direct to alternator modification too, the mad electrical site has that mod too.

I've been thinking of getting his newstuff kit ( http://www.madelectrical.com/newstuff/ ) for my Hemi swap to take care of some issues with having the 140a alternator and the original ammeter.

-Daty