Electrical...please help
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 27
Likes: 0
From: waterford
Electrical...please help
A wierd situation occurred driving this week. Car is a '78. Alternator light came on and lost all gauges. Alternator bench checked...fine. Battery bench checked at Sears (under warranty)...fine. Replaced belts. Light still on, gauges dead, battery loses charge. All fuses O.K. Needless to say I'm lost!!! Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Advanced
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 75
Likes: 0
From: Santa Clarita CA
Re: Electrical...please help (kjsmarty)
Check your fusable link. I had the same prob in my 78 and it turned out to be a bad fusable link. Also make sure all of your wires are connected properly and nothing is grounding out.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,281
Likes: 5
From: Boston
Re: Electrical...please help
You most certainly have a "short" circuit, maybe some old wire melt enough to expose the core and now is tuching ground. Your local shop should be able to find the prob. :cheers:
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,823
Likes: 52
From: Shawano WI
Re: Electrical...please help (kjsmarty)
There are two fusible links by the starter. Each feeds power to some parts of the car. It sounds like the the one that goes to the altenator is bad so the altenator cannot feed current back to the battery.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 3,407
Likes: 2
From: Carmichael CA
Re: Electrical...please help (kjsmarty)
Check for a loose ground...there is a major ground terminal where about a dozen system use as a grounding strip under the front of the center console. You will need to move the center console back anyway if you are to inspect the gauges.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,023
Likes: 2
From: TEXASTEXASTEXASTEXAS TEXASTEXASTEXASTEXAS
St. Jude Contributor
Re: Electrical...please help (kjsmarty)
I really appreciate the help...but I haven't had elctrical 101 yet. What is a fusible link and where is it? Thanks again.
The short answer, though, is that fusible links are sections of wire that are designed to fail--they're of a smaller gauge than the wire they're connected to, so they burn instead of the wire (or a significant portion of your harness). They have extra thick insulation, so they'll look fatter than the wire they're in circut with.
JB
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