Power outage

[73Coupe]

Driving home from work on Thursday night, in the left turn lane at a stoplight, the car went dead.
I mean, total lights out - nothing. No dome light, head lights, ignition, starter, horn, nothin'!

I couldn't have been in a more convenient location. After causing a traffic jamb and being the recipient of a few bad looks, someone was nice enough to help me push the NYB though the intersection and into a parking lot.

Anyways, this one is strange. The battery is ok. The cables are ok, including the fuseable link. It's looking like the battery feed through the bulkhead connector. More to come as i get this diagnosed....

 

[1978 NYB]

Good ground cable connection to the engine?

 

[cbarge]

Ammeter gauge took a ****.
Disconnect battery.
Run a wire with a fusible link from the battery stud back of alternator to the battery stud of starter relay.
reconnect battery,drive away.

 

[Andrew Ryan]

The charging guage in the dash (ammeter?) is essentially a fusable link. I had the same thing happen, it was the guage, once it dies, no power to any thing. I simply bypassed it, connecting both in and out leads to the same stud on the guage.

 

[live4theking]

I'm guessing to have a 73 coupe. Does it have an amp gauge? If it does I would agree with the two previous post. I'm not sure when they switched to volt meters.

 

[Yeahrightgreer]

Ballast Resistor..

 

[73Coupe]

It was the wires coming from the alternator that fed the bulkhead connector. I had the car aligned that day, and they must have bumped the connector at the back of the alternator as it's right next to the control arm camber adjuster nut.

In the process I discovered that my battery feed wire was F'd up.

The original charging harness had a bullet type connector next to the plastic block connector at the firewall to engine harness. This had previously burnt out and was replaced by a crimp connector, which I later removed and soldered it solid. Also somewhere along the way somebody installed a 10 ga. auxiliary charge wire that went from the alternator to the fusible link at the bulkhead (the BATT feed wire). So there are two 10 ga wires connected to the alternator.
Also, another branch split before this point and went through the firewall below the booster and into the BATT terminal at the fuse block. The fuse block has its own separate feed that comes from the starter relay.

So, the BATT feed was actually going from the fuse block, to the alternator, then back in through the bulkhead connector.

Now it's hooked up correctly, coming from the wire attached at the starter relay to the harness which goes right into the bulkhead.

Fusible links are ok.

The ammeter on this year was a shunt-type, so all the power is not going through it as in previous years. Lucky me, on that tip!

 

[73Coupe]

Good ground cable connection to the engine?

That was ok from the batt to the engine. I'm wondering how the body grounds to the motor, though?

 

[73Coupe]

Ballast Resistor..

No, that would only shut down the ignition system.

 

[Polara_500]

That was ok from the batt to the engine. I'm wondering how the body grounds to the motor, though?

Usually a flat braided cable on the passenger side head to the firewall.

 

[Yeahrightgreer]

No, that would only shut down the ignition system.

I thought you’d get the joke

 

[73Coupe]

I thought you’d get the joke

Just for good measure I should change it anyway, and get another 10-pack of spares to keep in the trunk!

 

[live4theking]

Glad you figured it out.