Long Weekend fun....

[66FURY_III]

Happy long weekend all,

I hope you all are able to get out and cruise since the weather here in southern Ontario certainly allows for it.

I would also be doing that however for some reason my Fury decided to go completely stone dead.

I went to start it this morning and no power to anything, lights horn absolutely NA DA. She was running like a champ when I parked her a week ago, not a single issue. I thought it was just a dead battery so I popped it on the charger to top it off. Even with a fully charged (bought in May 2016) battery I could not get anything out of her. No cranking, no headlights, no horn, just nothing.
I suspect that it is the ballast resistor though this being the first classic car I've ever owned I don't know what would cause a catastrophic failure of every single electrical item in the vehicle. If it is the resistor that's great because it's cheap and easy to get at, only thing is it's the long weekend and no one has it in stock.


I'm just looking for any of you seasoned guys to chime in with your ideas. I mean I have all weekend and no where to go now so I might as well see what I can chase down haha

Thanks again

 

[commando1]

Fusible Link.

 

[66FURY_III]

Fusible Link.

Ok perfect that took no time to diagnose. Any chance I just run down to the parts store and buy it? You'll have to excuse my ignorance.

 

[jct]

Fusible Link.

this!!!

 

[300rag]

A thread on the subject

Fusible Link

 

[66FURY_III]

UPDATE

So I went about removing the fusible link and inspecting it for any signs of obvious damage. It wasn't brittle or showing any obvious signs of any damage to me.
I cleaned up the connections and put it back on and tried the electronics, no power still. I took the Ballast resistor off and looked it over, seemed fine so I put it back on and tried again but still no power.

I took the plugs off the ballast resistor and cleaned up the connections and put it back on...it fired right up and everything works again.
I had no idea that resistor could cause that issue. Either way I'm ordering a half dozen to keep with me.

I should also add that I have shaved door handles with electronic door poppers so no power means no entry into the car either....haha fun times

Cheers
Mike

 

[OKDart]

Battery Cables.

They may look fine, but corroded under the insulation. To check, make sure the cable connections at the battery are clean. Then, with a set of jumper cables, connect the neg at the battery and where it bolts to on the head. If you have power now, the neg cable is your problem. Do the same for pos. cable and fusible link, connect at the battery last to help avoid shorts.

Also, a ballast resistor only affects a running engine. If your engine will start, but when you let go of the key it dies, that is a sign of a bad ballast resistor. No need to stockpile them, just connect the wires together at the resistor which will bypass it. That will get you home or to the nearest parts store. 2 extra volts going to the coil won't burn it up anytime soon.

 

[live4theking]

Check the negative battery cable to make sure it is secured well. Years ago I went out after working night to go home and I had zero power. When we put the hood up and started looking at things the negative cable had been on an exhaust stud. It broke, therefore no more ground, meaning no more power.

 

[bluefury361]

[QUOTE="66FURY_III,

I took the plugs off the ballast resistor and cleaned up the connections and put it back on...it fired right up and everything works again.
I had no idea that resistor could cause that issue. [/QUOTE]

It won't....! You somehow jostled something that did complete the connection. The ballast resister will only cause a "no start" condition. All will power up and the engine will crank, just no start.

 

[JC68vert300]

I was just recently having a similar issue with my 300. It would be fine, then no power. I noticed the battery tray was tilting foward, no rot holes, the metal seemed weak. The battery was able to slide around while driving, (even though the bracket was fully tightened)crimping the cables. I ordered a new tray and hold down from Dante's. While I had it out, replaced the positive and negative cables, they were 50 years old and brittle. That corrected my problem.