need quick Help! Car is completely dead but battery has Power! 68 Fury III

[Knebel]

Hi,

i need some quick help with my 68 Fury III. It has a 318 in it with 4bb carb, magnetic ignition ect.

Just Yesterday I Installed a Fuse Box and routed two Cables to it, the one from the Voltmeter (10AWG) and anoter skinnier one which goes to the inside of the car from the Switch for the starter.

Anyways, 2 hours ago, I packed up the 3 kids and met my wife for dinner at work, 1 mile away, car started and drove fine. She works at fred meyer.
Now me and the kids wanted to go home and the Car is Compleately dead. No interior lights, headlights, gas gauge, no oil light nothing. Only the Voltmeter shows that the battery has charge. temp not moving, nothing. Checked the Battery and it has 13 Volts. Took my wifes car and jumed it but nothing when you turn the key.

I took the flaslight and looked under the dash at the fusebox, they all look fine, none obviously broke. idk what to look at, is it the starterswitch whih engages the starter? if someone please can give me a quick help!

 

[70bigblockdodge]

I'm guessing but , that's your best help now, has to be fuseable link by the starter relay not sure color black or blue in 68 should have little rubber flap tag on it that says fusible link check both ends for power if it is bad you can jumper with light gauge wire DO NOT USE HEAVY GAUGE WIRE. or the rest of harness becomes the fuseable link and then a fire. Good luck

 

[Knebel]

thank you, i dont think i have that link! I am sure the wires have been tampered with before and i am trying to fix all that. i took a pic today of it which ill upload in a sec. the cable on the right of the fusebox is for the MSD the otherone (thick red cable)is to the voltmeter inside. What i

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Another possibility is the bulkhead connector and or ammeter has an open check big wire in bulkhead connector and both terminals on ammeter

 

[Knebel]

While checking I noticed something else, the Negative clamp on the battery is a little loose. But does that cause compleatly death? the volt gauge shows Middleposition but nothing else moves the slightest bit. It just throws me off that i drove there fine and 2 hours later the car dosent make the slightest "beep" and all lights are dead ect.

Ok to the bulkhead connector. That has been totally messed with. So that big red wire to that fusebox goes directly through the firewall to the ammeter.

I actually wiggled on the Bulkhead connector to see if it makes a difference but...nothing. I could just think it must be something what provides main power to everything since the car reacts like the battery is disconnected.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Push down on it and turn at same time should not be loose

 

[70bigblockdodge]

You don't have fuseable link but someone did a good job protecting is there power on both sides of both of those.fuses

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Should be ammeter in the car are we talking all stock gauges or did someone add a voltmeter if stock center is normal even with dead battery

 

[Knebel]

Yes Gauges are all stock. I already did a lot of wires, I installed that fusebox yesterday after... well the sparks were flying before (eyeroll) and i had to shake my head how there wasnt even a fuse inbetween that big wire... had been usng the car a couple of times since then actually with no problems. I didnt check on the voltage on the Fuse actually. Hmm, and so the Voltmeter is always straight in the middle? Cause i remember it was always slightly lower and then when turning the key i would make a move..
Do you mean push and turn on the battery clamp? Thank you so far for your help btw!

 

[Knebel]

I got the car home! Thank you so very much, i simply did not know that everything runs over this wire. It simply was the Fuse. 15AMP is not enough for that wire, i had already guessed that 30 would be better, but thought it would only Wire the ampmeter! just bridged it and everything worked instantly. Thank you!

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Glad you got it home not sure what size fuse you need there that is where fusable link is, i would say thirty not enough amp gauge probably reads 40 allthe way on c if car has power windows and a/c its probably a 65 amp alternator and every thing for whole car goes through that wire basically, you need to research that you don't want to big and burn up harness or worse yet whole car . Good luck and welcome to the site.

 

[BillGrissom]

The prior owner worked on your wiring quite, and appears to have known what they were doing. Did they leave drawings? Not sure why you say "voltmeter". 1968 cars had an "ammeter" in the dash. I suspect the p.o. changed to a voltmeter indicator for current, driven by an under-hood shunt resistor (shown in photo). Many would consider that better, since the high current to/from the battery doesn't have to route thru the bulkhead connector and ammeter (causes many problems).

 

[Knebel]

I simply wasnt sure if it was a volt or ammetet.sorry about that. How do i find that out? It seems pretty unstable and moves fast with the cylinders firing. Idk what the p.o did but the wires were not great, partly just 'twisted' togeter..... i just installed the fusebox there you see in the pic as i renewed a bunch of wiring. No drawing. Under dash wires already caught fire cause of some stupid mistake.... but it does not look stock. Like i said, electrical connections where i could just shake my head over.