Burnt Offerings

Dobalovr

Being on the Cbody diet SUCKS!
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So I was crawling around under the dash and saw this. This wire gets hot hot hot. Ill be looking it up in the FSM wiring guide shortly but has anyone seen this before? Steering column connector. Everything works except horn, Flasher and headlight doors. Red heavy guage wire. It's obviously getting too much current or has too much resistance. '70 Chrysler 300 with Tilt/telescopic cruise (havent tried it yet)What say ye all?
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Loose connection. Loose connection causes arcing, which causes heat, which then loosens the connection more, causing more arcing and more heat. It's an endless cycle. New tight-fitting connectors are in your future.
 
Exactly what my tech said. Bad connection causing arcing arcing burning insulation - bare wire gets corroded increases resistance- increases heat etc etc. So I'll trim it back and "linesman splice" it and watch for excessive heat.
 
They never really did over engineer their wiring, did they.

It seems to be such a simple thing to do properly. So now just need to run down the other gremlins. Wiring diagram reading tonight / should put me right to sleep
 
Typical problem.

The best repair is to bypass with a jumper.

Before you hate it too much, remember it's a 46 year old car that wasn't designed to last this long.
 
That won't work. He likes to tune her out.:)

I only tune her out when she asks me why I need 3 sets of road wheels for 2 cars or why I have 2 extra clusters sitting on the kitchen table.....otherwise she's pretty cool about it all. It helps that she can't go downstairs and see my hoard but she now has enlisted her home care people to spy and report back lol
 
Typical problem.

The best repair is to bypass with a jumper.

Before you hate it too much, remember it's a 46 year old car that wasn't designed to last this long.

I'm not mad at all Big J in fact I'm pretty stoked with it this week. Got the spark wire thing solved and got to run her down the highway at 80MPH. Floated along nicely but no kickdown so that will have to be adjusted. Wish I would have thought of doing the Part Throttle upgrade while I had the VB outto replace the shift seal. Have about 20 more hours of power polishing to do and mb just mb it will make the big show at the end of the month
 
That condition is standard equipment on virtually all C bodies of this era - 69-73. If you want to see it really get hot, use a 60 amp alternator and/or keep your blower motor on high when running a/c and headlights at night. The wire isn't nearly big enough for all the current it has to pass. Really skimpy design, but then the electrical pieces/system on fuselage cars at least are their biggest weakness IMO - like Stan said above.

What solved your spark lead problem?
 
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This is not an uncommon problem. Best fix is to replace the entire wire while eliminating the connection. (You don't see any other hot spots in the wire, just at the connection). Drill the connector straight through and string the wire through.
 
I only tune her out when she asks me why I need 3 sets of road wheels for 2 cars or why I have 2 extra clusters sitting on the kitchen table.....otherwise she's pretty cool about it all. It helps that she can't go downstairs and see my hoard but she now has enlisted her home care people to spy and report back lol
If she's reading this over your shoulder, I hope she realizes that it's all in fun.
 
If she's reading this over your shoulder, I hope she realizes that it's all in fun.

No worries P the Redheaded School Teacher knows exactly who I hang out with and what kinda trouble I get into without reading over my shoulder some kinda sixth sense she has.
 
What solved your spark lead problem?

I replaced all the autolite plugs with Champions and tossed the third set of NAPA wires out in favour of some MOPAR PERFORMANCE restoration wires. A mechanic told me many many years ago to always run Champion RJ12YC's in Dodge engines. That's what they left the factory with and I shouldn't second guess the reasons. Maybe he had a point.
 
I replaced all the autolite plugs with Champions and tossed the third set of NAPA wires out in favour of some MOPAR PERFORMANCE restoration wires. A mechanic told me many many years ago to always run Champion RJ12YC's in Dodge engines. That's what they left the factory with and I shouldn't second guess the reasons. Maybe he had a point.
I like to use just what the Manufacture put in Champion in Mopar, Motorcraft in Ford, Delco in GM, but lately it's getting blurred because you find more NGK's in certain models of all of the big 3
 
I replaced all the autolite plugs with Champions and tossed the third set of NAPA wires out in favour of some MOPAR PERFORMANCE restoration wires. A mechanic told me many many years ago to always run Champion RJ12YC's in Dodge engines. That's what they left the factory with and I shouldn't second guess the reasons. Maybe he had a point.
Back in the 90's when I bought my first 68 NYer. I went and bought the most expensive Bosch spark plugs. After about 2000 miles it started running horribly. Fortunately I was home on leave and my father a Chrysler mechanic said he'd look at it. He tossed my nearly new spark plugs in the trash and put Champions in it. Problem solved.
 
I like to use just what the Manufacture put in Champion in Mopar, Motorcraft in Ford, Delco in GM, but lately it's getting blurred because you find more NGK's in certain models of all of the big 3
I run nothing but NGK. So far I have not found anything that they don't work well in. I used to be the same way for the most part until I started dealing with as many race engines as I was and we got a great deal on NGK so I started using them on everything. Never once had an issue with one.
 
Btw that is the ignition switch connector and that wire is the battery power feed coming into the switch. If it is getting that hot make sure you check the bulkhead connector. I am sure it is starting to melt as well.
 
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