Thank you and I had no idea about the guage I didn't even think about it snd its a 72 polara
No power no lights no nothing
- Thread starter slick72
- Start date
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
My bad, I had the fellow with heater valve problems in mind too just now. Anyway, Mopar had a neurotic attachment to using ammeters to conduct the entire load of the charging circuit through the firewall, looping back to the alternator, which nigh invariably was wired under size too boot. Thank You for snapping me back to your specific ride' Now I'm more sure than ever you have a bad ammeter connection, if not ammeter. Carefully now, let's connect both of your ammeter lugs together on ONE of the screw studs provided. This will bypass your ammeter. Make sure the lugs are nice and clean also, as the screw terminals. ALL of your charge current goes through this!
You can gator clip the voltmeter to something a little later, then when happy, SAFELY terminate it. I like using the main battery lead coming in to the fusebox myself, and I ground things extra with a bonding jumper from front to back bumper.
What am I missing here? ’72 Polara runs an externally shunted ammeter, there is no significant current running through the dash mounted ammeter, the ammeter or related 20ga wiring can be open, won’t disable the vehicle. As mentioned, need to resolve the reason why jumping the starter relay doesn’t produce the activation of the starter motor. Battery cable, cable end, negative or positive issue likely, break out some jumper cables to test bypass the cables.
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
Oh, they had the good sense to shunt the things by '72? Excellent! THAT's a relief! I still suspect shoddy wiring to some degree. A spare battery, jumper cables and such would make a good sanity check. I know the ammeter in my '83 was shunted, but didn't realize they had adopted such in the early 70s. Let's see what happens....
Its a aftermarket amp gauge
1970FuryConv
Old Man with a Hat
1970 was the last year full current ran through the ammeter.
Hi Slick 72
Do you have a voltmeter?
Is the voltage at the battery cable connector on the starter relay 12V?
Is the ignition connector on the starter relay receiving 12V voltage when you turn the key on?
If not receiving battery power at starter relay is problem, You need to find out where voltage drops from 12V at the connector closest to the battery to 0 volts at the next connector in series, then examine the condition of the wire between the 2 connectors.
If you don't have a voltmeter or multimeter, you are going to have a tough time tracking down your wiring problem.
Also, rec you go to www.mymopar.com and download free factory shop manual, so you can begin studying factory wiring diagrams.
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
Now, is it amperes, or Volts which are featured on this aftermarket gauge? IF VOLTS, then this is a voltage meter. If AMPS, its an ammeter. One measures the potential through which a charge might move, the other measures the rate of charge movement. You MUST NOT confuse these units or concepts in your thinking.
You were correct it was voltage guage
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
Very good. I thought so from the way you typed earlier. I want YOU to be SURE of the difference! Anyway, if you have good voltage on the battery, and had a good reading when you had it hooked up on the ammeter, then the fusible link is good. This bodes well for you in some ways, bad in others. Now, have you removed that meter yet? What YOU NEED right now is a good volt-ohmmeter, to do a little trouble-shooting.
Its running great everything is working
HOTTODDY6757
New Member
On the fire wall. A block where all the wires go through fire wall connection. I have had as well as I have talked to other Mopar owners having corroded wires in the block. It is right next to the steering column. Next check neutral safety switch for starting car. Need to be in Park or neutral. If battery is good? Any auto parts store can do a power leak down to see if battery is ok. Do all the lights inside & out side work? Battery is good? Check starter. You could have found a repair you fixed & found out why it was fixed by previous owner. Just a couple Ideas from my experience with my Dodges.
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
Praise St. Joe! So, it lit up and ran when you popped that gauge off? I bet it did! Sometimes, just re-nutting down a lug on a screw terminal will make Everything All Right. I rejoice knowing you got it going. Happy Moparring to ya!
Yes I would have never guessed it was the guage I was already rewiring ignition system thanks
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