No electrical at all

[ilikedarts]

A couple weeks ago I went out to move my 1974 Dodge Dart and when I did there were sparks coming from near where the fuse box is. When i reached to turn the lights on it shocked my hand. I turned the car off, and later started her up and everything was fine. I only moved the car around the house and turned it off. Now when i get in the car it acts like there is no battery in the car ar all. i have changed the battery out for 2 other know good ones and still I get no lights to come on at all including the dome light, and the motor won't even attempt to turn over. Everything is just dead.

I jumped the starter relay and the motor will turn over, so I put in a new park netural saftey switch and the car is still dead.

I have been doing research on this and found numerous refrences to the fusible link. I found the wire on the drivers fender that has a plastic tab that says fusible link on it, but don't know how to proceed from there. I have found some websites telling how to possibly fix this but it is all greek to me. Can anyone explain to me how to troubleshoot this and possibly fix it? Pictures would be a big help since this is my first attempt at something like this. I also have looked at the bulk head connector and wiggled the connections around, but it all appears to look ok. I would really like to fix this problem myself cause i don't have much money and and what little I do have I had planned to put on a new exhaust system and a couple other things. Thanks.

 

[ilikedarts]

When I get down under the steering wheel and found the wires coming out of the back of the bulk head connector there is one wire that has melted and it is blue. The copper wire is still intact but most of the blue plastic, rubber insulation is melted off. All the wires coming from the back of the bulk head connector come together in one big roll with what looks like black tape around them and the melted blue wire was to, but it seperated from the other wires when it melted the insulation.

I am completely lost. Is there anyone on here near northwest North Carolina? If so are you interested in repairing this? Of course I will pay, cause no one around here seems to even want think about looking at it.

 

[Cerwin]

You have obviously created a short. how and why is beyond me, were you playing around with the wiring? before any of these 'sparks' came to be?

thnigs you will need to work with electricty.. test light, volt meter and electrical tape(a comment temporary fix. i can guide you on properly fixing it later)

You will need to test your battery, make sure it works and there is power in the battery..11-12volts anything below that and you should have it fully charged. next is there voltage going to your.. regulator? starter? ballist? ignition?

you have to start at the root of the problem, electrical situations can vary in how they will be fixed and how they started. normally no one gets the whole story when they get asked to fix them.

You also need to know why you had sparks or else you will be fixing the problem for no reason. ie.. if you fix it it shorts out again you will need to fix it again. Thus, try to figure out why you sparked. where the short was and fix that. then find replace and fix the burnt or damaged wiring.

Sorry i cant be of more help but in all honesty elctrical problems suck and its going to be a stressful event from start to finish.

 

[superdart]

*BZZT* *ZAP* *FIZZLE* (usually followed by "oops").

Hmmm...blue wiring = main electrical wire. This wire is responsible for carrying ALL power to the car after the fusible link. If I am not mistaken, this was the point that was known to start bulkhead fires.

This might give you a little help. It's on an old D100, but the harness is the same as our Darts, and we suffer from the same shortcomings.

Wiring help

 

[fishy68]

Actually the sparks may not have been a short at all but just the opposite. A loose connection. Sparks can occur when electricity tries to flow but the connection is bad. This would explain why you don't have power now. The bulkhead connector has been a problem point on old Mopars for a long time now. Even though you said you wiggled it around and saw no problem that isn't good enough. You need to disassemble it to inspect the condition of the connectors. You might find 1 or more corroded or burned up. Especially that blue wire you mentioned. If it's melted it probably isn't making contact. Also check your fuse box real good. Mine in my 68 Cuda was rusted where the fuses make contact to the point that it needed replacing.

 

[superdart]

Shoot me your email. I have put my '75 Dart factory schematics in to PDF form. It's 3 Mbs, so I hope you have high speed internet.