Found another gremlin

[06Daytona]

I broke down and bought a carb kit for the 2 bbl even though I'll be swapping to something bigger soon. When I tried to start the car after I was done I heard a pop before the car started and then nothing. There's power to my rear side marker lights and dash lights, but no power to the headlights, front markers, starter and probably a few other places I haven't found yet. It's too dark to do anything tonight, and I haven't got very good lighting in my garage yet so I'll have to tackle the gremlins tomorrow.
I have a test light, but I don't know where I need to test. My uneducated guess is that I blew a relay since I don't have any electrical power to the front, but I have no idea where to find it, unless it's the one on my drivers fender with the octopus growing from it.
I already checked the fuse block, but it may be inside it. The fuse block was hanging away from the firewall so I bolted it back on yesterday and may have done something to it.

[72cudamaan]

Sounds like a fusible link went kablooey ( this is the technical term) lol

[06Daytona]

That was one of my first thoughts too, but I thought it sounded a little to easy. The car has been sitting since 2006, so gremlins have been breeding without anyone to stop them

[Bullitt-]

. The fuse block was hanging away from the firewall so I bolted it back on yesterday and may have done something to it.

  There ya go...may be as simple as one wire not making contact at the bulkhead or as bad as many wires melted together (pop does not bode well)....Fix it before more damage is done.

[06Daytona]

I popped the fuse block out of the firewall piece, and didn't see any visible damage. I'm still going to check that the wires are getting power at the right times. Today the engine light came on for a second but when I turned the key something clicked(starter solenoid I think) and then nothing. The engine light didn't even come on again. Most of the wires in the car are spliced at some point or another, including all the wires coming down the steering column. I'm thinking I might just pull the stereo to get rid of a few random wires and then go through the wires one at a time and repair/replace all the splices. I might even add a few inches of wire to each one so I have a little more slack when I have to go back into the gremlin breeding zoo under the dash.

[ShelbyDogg]

Check the big red wire where it comes in fromt the fusible link to the firewall, then on the inside to the whle left side of your fuse box.  Use your test light and check it while it is dead.  You have a loose connection on your red power lead.  Probably right at or around the fuse box.

[06Daytona]

Stupid question here I think. I haven't had to deal with a fusible link for quite a few years, and never on a Mopar. Power goes from the battery to the relay on my left inner fender, top row, closest connector to the firewall. It goes out from the same connector with a fusible link then to the harness that goes into the back of the fuseblock on the fire wall. Is this correct? If so, there is no fusible link there, just the two wires twisted together and black taped up.

[Bullitt-]

Fusible link is only wires...the wires are the fuse so to speak.

[06Daytona]

Thanks Bullitt. I thought the last fusible link I saw had what looked something like a fishing weight at one end.

I think I found one of the problems. The male connector on the red wire was in pretty bad shape and the male on the fuse block was in equally bad shape. It looked like they've been arcing for a while and had finally roasted each other.

On a side note, tonight at a car get together I found a guy selling a 71 or 73(not sure which) Challenger with a 318/auto. Yellow with white detail and white interior. I haven't seen the car in person yet, but I'll be taking a look at it in the next couple of weeks. He's only asking 14,000 for it and I heard from a few people that it's in great shape.

[ShelbyDogg]

First of all make sure that someone put real fusible link wire in there when they bypassed  a burnt one.  The factory didn't use twisted wires. Look at another car with an original one to see what they looked like.

For the firewall connector, you can replace the pins if the plastic didn't melt away and can still support a new pin. If not another fix is to splice a longer wire on the end of your harness then drill a hole right through the female end on the bulkhead side to thread the wire through. On the inside, you can use a big wire nut to twist the 2 wires together.   This way your wiring looks stock from the engine side and you eliminate the weak male-female spade connector.     

Better clean the BIG Black wire from the alternator now too. It comes in on the next plug over.

[06Daytona]

This gremlin is really getting on my nerves. I replaced the fusible link just to be on the safe side. Then I drilled a hole in the harness that connects to the firewall and got a good connection at the firewall. The lock clip on one side of the harness is broken but it seemed to be holding in pretty well. I replaced the ends and splices on a bunch of the wires under the hood this morning and replaced the nasty broken wire from my AC pump to somewhere inside the car while I was at it.
The engine cranked on two occasions after that, once when I jumped in and turned the key without hitting the gas and then again after I pumped the gas a few times. The third time I turned the key I heard 3 clicks and lost all power again. I'm going to let the car sit while I have a coffee and see if it might be something that resets. I'm pretty sure the clicks are coming from under the hood, but since I'm working solo I don't have someone to pinpoint where the sound is coming from. It sounded to me like it was coming from the outside of the firewall, but that might just be the acoustics in the garage

[ShelbyDogg]

The third time I turned the key I heard 3 clicks and lost all power again. I'm going to let the car sit while I have a coffee and see if it might be something that resets. I'm pretty sure the clicks are coming from under the hood, but since I'm working solo I don't have someone to pinpoint where the sound is coming from.

The clicks and losing power is sometimes a loose battery cable clamp or poor connection on the other end.

Clean and tighten the battery clamps, then make sure that your negative cable goes to the block and is tight. Check the positive cable at the starter solenoid and make sure that it is tight. 

When you say that you lose power.  Right away put a test light on your left BAT connector at the bottom of the fuse box and tell me if you get a light on.  This 40 year old system is really very simple and Gremlins don't pop up too often.

[06Daytona]

It seems to be a ground problem. My ground cable goes from the battery to the block and there's a second going to the bracket for my AC unit. When I tested with the test light I was grounding to the terminal out of habit but when I ground right to the block I don't have a signal. I'm going to clean the connection at the block and see if that makes a difference, and if not I'll chase all my major grounds until I find the culprit. The wiring on the car is pretty horrific with splices all over the place and broken insulation so what I really need is a whole new harness so I can de-gremlin all in one go.

[06Daytona]

I cleaned up the ground at the block and I'm getting better grounding now. It's still not grounding at the AC bracket, but I think that's a broken ground wire since I'm not even getting ground at the end of the wire. I climbed under the car and checked the power wire at the starter and it seemed to be good, but I'll probably still replace the cable. The post for the small wire on the solenoid was loose so I tightened it up. and cleaned up the wire while I was at it. When I followed the wire up to the relay I discovered a break in the insulation right in the middle of a bunch of wires so I'll be replacing that right away and hope that that helps. I'm also going to check the firewall to block ground while I'm playing.

[ShelbyDogg]

I cleaned up the ground at the block and I'm getting better grounding now. It's still not grounding at the AC bracket, but I think that's a broken ground wire since I'm not even getting ground at the end of the wire. I climbed under the car and checked the power wire at the starter and it seemed to be good, but I'll probably still replace the cable. The post for the small wire on the solenoid was loose so I tightened it up. and cleaned up the wire while I was at it. When I followed the wire up to the relay I discovered a break in the insulation right in the middle of a bunch of wires so I'll be replacing that right away and hope that that helps. I'm also going to check the firewall to block ground while I'm playing.

Good.    Sounds like you're on the way to having a reliable car.   In my cars, I have the negative cable going right to the head. The small black one goes to the radiator support.  I have another big cable going from the block to the frame. Then I have a small ground wire at the back of the block going to my voltage regulator and my electronic ignition bolts.

If you ever lose the big black ground wire to the block, the small wires will fry so keep the big ones tight.