No power in the car

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Byron Gray

Byron Gray

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I was trying to get my car running again as I was trying to get it to fire I noticed I did not tighten the black wire on the alternator all the way. As I was doing that the wrench got close to the valve cover and it sparked. Now the car has zero power won't crank fans dont come on when I turn the key. My horn dosen't even work anymore. Wondering what I could have fried.
 
Blind Squirrel said:
I don't know your vehicle. But it sounds like a cooked fuse-able link.
Click to expand...
It's a 73 duster with a small block 360.. msd ignition but previous owners didnt take put the factory ignition so it had both in the car.. and I'm hoping it is just a fusable link. Thanks.
 
Hi guys! Byron's girlfriend. Helped him take a look. Switched power source to the alternator showed no voltage. Found up and inspecting the fusible link showed no visible damage. The power wire going to it from battery had 12.5 volts. I remembered I jumped the ammeter wires due to having a no power condition earlier. Crawling up under the dash not only did the voltage was a wimpy tenth of a volt, but the wires showed this :

20190708_183718.jpg


Sorry for the crappy image. But clearly the wires on the one stud shorted, resulting in melting of the rubber. And it was horribly rusty and corroded to begin with, and that poor connection must have been the "fusible link". We are in the process of pulling the gauge cluster right now. (Good time to fix everything else, you see that duct tape?) I'll check the bulkhead, hopefully those contacts did not get melted. Thank you for the web page, that was very helpful!
 
20190708_192925.jpg


A total of four wires on the ammeter, all basically shorted and melted connections. Ammeter positive looks horribly corroded on the inside, not good. Now we gotta figure out the next steps.
 
Four wires on the ammeter could be because the car was optioned with rear defroster? or something else?
It also might have come with the optional 60 amp alternator. In the photos it looks like the battery and alternator feeds could be 8 gage.
In which case the main feeds go through a grommet rather the bulkhead connector
This is from the '73 Dodge Chassis Service manual - you can download a copy from mymopar.com
The full diagrams are hard to follow, so reduce it to just the circuits you need like I did here.
upload_2019-7-8_23-17-51.png


Sometimes it helps to put the color in and even size the lines. In the old tech tips they suggested making schematics by tracing with colored pencils. Whatever works for you. I often redraw stuff by hand, but it doesn't scan well.
upload_2019-7-8_23-28-9.png
 
The condition of both the terminals and the ammeter studs don't look good.
The studs you should be able to clean up.
Make sure the studs aren't loose. And if there's no resistance between them then the ammeter should be OK.

I don't know how to replicate those heavy seals over the terminal connections.
Someone else here might. So if you have to cut them open to inspect or replace, all I can suggest is heat shrink.
 
Sorry, didn't mean to hit disagree there Mattax lol. Very helpful diagrams. He actually does have a rear window defroster, that must be what those are connected to the ammeter. Studs were in such poor condition they snapped when he tried to undo the nut. We got a spare dash, and we have electrical tape and heat shrink for new connections. Will have to split the sheathing on that positive wire to see how far the corrosion goes.
 
Whatever it is time to remove the instrument cluster. You guys have a shop manual? Download one, free at MyMopar. Happily there is a 73 manual there, and it got there due to the efforts of some of us here.


Pull the plate bolts that hold the column to the floor, disconnect the shift linkage, remove the nuts up at the dash after removing the lower trim. Be careful of wiring connectors, disconnect as needed and DISCONNECT THE BATTERY
 
Did you check the fusable links?
 
yes my fuseable link was ok. i had a crappy amp gauge that was my issue. I ended up swapping my gauge cluster out with one we had just sitting that was in better condition. also bypassed the amp gauge and car has been working fine since then. thank you all for the help.
 
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