Electrical questions

[mr. fix it]

So I am waiting for parts to arrive and knew I had to dig into the dash sooner or later to fix a few interesting characteristics that the car has shown us since buying this last summer.

1- very dim dash lights in the evening
2 - the headlight dash lights rheostat cut out the moment you turn the dial.
3 - Low fuel & temp gauge (checked the gauges previously and lead & grd wiring all seems good..)
4 - Melted firewall block from the amp gauge wiring - I patched that right away last year bypassing the firewall block. Positive going in and going out.
4 - sometimes a very warm ignition switch - is this typical of a Mopar or should I be concerned?

So off i go removing the bits and pieces to investigate.

I removed the gauge cluster thinking I would find that typical voltage limiter to be the issue.

It wasn't there so I removed the instrument panel thinking i would find it there. Not there either..

(This is a Canadian built Polara)

Monaco dash used in the CDN cars..

So, the headlight switch plug is melted.. fun wow! AM socket is $40 at Autozone. $60 in Canada
I think I can fix this one up.

I eventually find this tracing wiring from the amp gauge along down to the driver's kick panel area to the what could be but not sure if this is the voltage limiter just yet.

Anyone know for sure?

BTW, you can congratulate the painter of the dash who took the time to cover the wiring harness to avoid getting red over spray on everything under the dash

 

[Mr C]

Mr Fix it,

First, fix any melted connections, and keep the old connectors as reference as to which circuits got hot and started to melt...it will help with any additional diagnoses.

It sounds like you've done the bulkhead bypass modification, so that's good. If not, do it...you're in there anyway.

Second, It sounds like you need a new headlight switch- if the melted connector wasn't enough of an indication, the funky rheostat is another. Since you're doing the wiring- I'd go the relay route in the headlight circuit...it takes the heavy voltage load away from the switch and you'll never melt again.

Third, that looks like the voltage limiter to me, but it's hard to tell from the pic.

Four- Canadian built Dodges used Fury dashes. US 66 Dodges, whether Polara or Monaco had a two pod affair, while the Fury/ Canadian Dodge dash was the single squarish design:

 

[70bigblockdodge]

There I already learned something today and it not even noon thanks mr. C.

 

[mr. fix it]

Yes that's my dash below. The Fury Dashboard configuration.

Strangely enough the headlight switch looks good but i have a new one in the box of parts that cam with the car so I am sure the PO had an idea already to replace it.

I just happened across the head light relay mod the other day so that had peaked my interest as well. - Thx for the mention!

The trick I think is to keep it tidy when doing this so it doesn't come back to haunt me later if I have to dig into this again.

I'll take so pics later of the old switch. I think this has been a issue for sometime but never attended to.
Here is another of the apparent limiter.

the wire on the right of the pic ends up at the amp gauge - the left post..

 

[1970cat]

a little hard to tell, but that looks like a relay for the power top

 

[mr. fix it]

a little hard to tell, but that looks like a relay for the power top

Ok.

It make sense because of the location of the wiring coming directly off the amp gauge.
I will investigate further..
Thanks

 

[mr. fix it]

So if this is the circuit breaker for the soft top then I wonder where the volt limiter/regulator is located on my system..

I've looked on line for a Fury repair manual but no luck just yet.
Anyone have a lead on one I can download?