"clicking" under the dash

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Pateras

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Hi guys,
I've done some brief searching and didn't come up with anything, so if this is covered somewhere i apologize.

Here's the problem; I pulled out the dash a couple weeks back to deal with the smoked Amp meter. I bypassed the ampmeter all together, put everything back like it was (seemingly) but as soon as i turned the key on, I started noticing an audible clicking under the dash, about every 2 seconds, even when it's not running. I didn't think much of it, thinking i would deal with it later. well, i drove the car later and realized that that clicking was coinciding with the car momentarily dying while driving down the road!

So, i can hear the click, see the lights dim on the dash, and the car dies every 2-3 seconds while driving 40 miles an hour. Crazy I know. Sound familiar at all? Thanks in advance.
:banghead:
 
Get a wiring diagram at mymopar.com then go back and visit what you did. If it worked before then it should work again. Sounds like you mixed up some wires or messed up some wires.

If your harness got hot when the amp gauge melted down then you may have wires in the harness that have insulation melted and they are touching each other.

Yes, I have had this happen on a 68 cuda, and when it did the wipers came on without the switch on, the radio power and the dash lights also. WITH THE KEY OFF! Also it would start but not stay running.

I un-taped the wiring harness where it had gone through the ammeter and low and behold several wires and the black hot lead had fused together causing the circuits to be fed hot all the time.

If you got hot and melty then look there first.

Good luck.
 
Hmmmm I am puzzled :happy1:

The only thing i didn't put back was a crappy home made wire (couldn't have been a ground) from the inside dash metal to the inside plastic bezel. WTF people??

Must have been the same person that cut a massive hole in the dash bezel with a chainsaw for a crappy 70's digital clock that i found laying inside the wiring. wasn't even hooked up. People are unreal. I'll post pictures of this psychosis soon.
 
Exactly, thank you sir. I just ahven't had a couple hours to throw at the problem. I have wires touching somewhere, just wondered if anyone had heard of this. Thank you!
Get a wiring diagram at mymopar.com then go back and visit what you did. If it worked before then it should work again. Sounds like you mixed up some wires or messed up some wires.

If your harness got hot when the amp gauge melted down then you may have wires in the harness that have insulation melted and they are touching each other.

Yes, I have had this happen on a 68 cuda, and when it did the wipers came on without the switch on, the radio power and the dash lights also. WITH THE KEY OFF! Also it would start but not stay running.

I un-taped the wiring harness where it had gone through the ammeter and low and behold several wires and the black hot lead had fused together causing the circuits to be fed hot all the time.

If you got hot and melty then look there first.

Good luck.
 
if its a regular click, sounds like maybe a thermal contactor, like a flasher pulling something to ground like the tach feed?
 
So what car and inst' panel ? One part that does get unfused 12 volts from ignition switch ( some models ) and does have a open/closed thermal conduction... instrument voltage limiter.
 
In the mean time disconnect the battery while the car is parked in your garage, just in case
 
Sorry, 67 Cuda. Just installed elec VR, but the clicking was happening before i converted from Mech VR. I hadn't thought of the instrument voltage limiter, thanks. THe battery was disconnected immediately, last thing i want to walk into is my 3 year project in flames in my garage, ha!

Thanks guys, all this helps.
 
Sorry, 67 Cuda. Just installed elec VR, but the clicking was happening before i converted from Mech VR. I hadn't thought of the instrument voltage limiter, thanks. THe battery was disconnected immediately, last thing i want to walk into is my 3 year project in flames in my garage, ha!

Thanks guys, all this helps.

So did you completely amputate that mechanical limiter or only disable it ( bend the little thingy ) ?
OOPS we may be talking about 2 different parts.
 
So did you completely amputate that mechanical limiter or only disable it ( bend the little thingy ) ?
OOPS we may be talking about 2 different parts.
Well, i had to move to a electric voltage regulator since i now have a dual field alternator. Great guys here helped me out with that as well. so removed it entirely, and installed an electric VR. Thanks.
 
I C The instrument voltage limiter is inside the fuel gauge. This area could have been the original root of the problems. One of 3 studs on that gauge gets 12 volts. One has or had a plastic cap to cover it so it couldn't short to the wire in defrost duct tubing or anything else. The noise suppression cap is attached and covering another of the 3.
 
Someone may have added a thermal circuit breaker?

Try unplugging the headlight switch which has one built in

Some short? in the 4x flasher or turn signals? Remove both flashers
 
You guys ready for this?

So I found some time saturday to tackle this issue. The clicking was still coming from underneath the dash, so before i yanked the entire dash out, i wanted to isolate where it came from. I crawled underneath and started poking around. I found that the sound was coming from the wiper switch! Weird to say the least. I then remembered that I finally hooked the wiper arm back up while the dash was out last time.
Thinking the motor and arm were bound, and just needed aligned, i took the arm back off, well, the clicking sound immediately went away. even more weird, so i tried connecting it again, and saw sparks! WTF?! i grabbed my meter, and sure enough, the body of the wiper motor has 12v to ground. unreal. so when i connected the arm, it shorted to ground, causing some relay inside the wiper switch to open periodically.
I've left it disconnected, and deal with it over the winter. just crazy.
 
book it Dano! now we have another gremlin to keep aware of. Nice thing about boards the the internet in general is the huge searchability of it. This will save the next guy loads of beer drinking time.
 
On some cars the wiper switch, just like the headlight switch, has an internal breaker.
 
OK You'll probably find the short circuit in the park switch just inside the gearbox cover. The thermal safety inside the 67 wiper switch is a strip of bi-metal. It will eventually crack in half. Then either replace entire switch or take the switch apart and route the safety out of the switch and attach a cycling circuit breaker on it outside.
Went through all of this with our very first 67 notch. Variable 3 speed wipers.
 
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