Starter stays engaged ONLY in park???

67Dart273 said
No I've told you earlier. Either do voltage checks or resistance checks, I prefer voltage "as long as I can" and then resort to resistance after I've narrowed it down.

Get "the path" in your head just as if you were driving somewhere, you drive so many miles on US95, you turn off at wandering meadows road and go so far, make a Y to the left on red rose lane, and so on.

Same thing with wiring.

"The path" You come from the BATTERY STUD on the starter relay through the fuse link, through the bulkhead connector on the BIG RED ammeter wire, and to the infeed at the key switch CONNECTOR

You go through the ignition switch AND KEEP IN MIND that it is in reality SEVERAL SEPARATE switches. This means if you have a low voltage problem in one circuit, it might be in the switch even though other circuits seem to be fine

So "rig" a way to clip into the various connectors or find a helper. Hook everything up normal. If you want to disable the starter, but still have the relay operate, then just undo "the big square" screw where the solenoid wire hooks. Now when you turn the key, the relay "should" operate and load down the key with that much of the circuit operating (as an example.) Now check voltage at the points you can access EASILY then go back and catch the "hard" ones if they seem to be involved.

So check power at the big red going into the key switch, and read it carefully. Twist key to start, does it drop at all? If it does you might have a problem right there in the bulkhead connector in the BIG RED and the ammeter circuit. If OK, move to the yellow at the key switch does IT drop? If so, might be bad switch or the connector. Check both sides of the connector. Move out to the starter relay. Check the yellow there, and if it drops? You've already checked at the ignition switch, say, "it was OK" what is left? The terminal on the end of the wire, and the bulkhead connector. Move to the bulkhead connector. It drops? Has to be right there in that connector, that is all that is left.

"Just follow the path."

WHAT I SOMETIMES DO

Since the 73/ later factory diagrams are difficult to follow "sometimes" download the aftermarket diagrams from MyMopar. They leave out options but at least they are line drawings.

Another thing you can do is download the 72 shop manual from My Mopar. THAT WILL BE DIFFERENT than yours, but the line drawings in the book might be easier to get into your head.

This is a very simple circuit, now that the interlock is out of the picture. Don't overthink. It might help to draw it out by hand, and take notes what you did for readings

I like the idea of drawing it out and labeling the readings. When I look at the diagrams, everything seems pretty simple. But then I get out under the dash or hood and I have a hard time separating the wires that matter and the ones that don't in this situation. I also get distracted pretty easily.

So, I think it would be helpful to wire it "correctly" and test from there. Otherwise I'd just be wasting time.

Mattax said
OK. I was actually a little uncertain about this since early in the thread you wrote that you disconected the interlock.
Orignally there was an interlock switch in the engine bay. This I think has the emergency bypass switch in it and is the one you disconnected?
I didn't show it in the schematic.
There also was another interlock box in the cabin. It may have had some other funtions too. I showed that with dashed lines. Is that still connected or is it gone?
Is the connector still there?

Again a little confusing to me. In a post Dec 17 you wrote that a new engine harness was en route. A couple days later in the post showing the ring gear teeth, it seemed that you had installed a new harness. Are you now getting an instrument panel harness?

If you have a good connection from the battery, you can test as outlined above in post #82.

Without a good connection to the battery, then check resistance in each key position. Do that with probes in the steering column connector.
Like Tooljunkie, I'd not be doing hot tests until I was a little more certain about where the hot wires are connected and that no loose conductors can contact ground.

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. The interlock was disconnected when I bought the car. The switch was mounted in the engine bay, but not connected. Not knowing what it was, I proceeded to start the car and tune as normal. Honestly, I thought it was the horn relay. I removed it, but still have it. Also, I've looked under the dash for the interlock box, but I haven't found it. I suspect it has been removed. What does the connector under the dash look like? I'll post pictures tomorrow, but there are 2 connectors at the steering column I'm confused about. Both are yellow and have 3 terminals. One has nothing going to it, and the other has one wire connected.

Regarding the harness, I had another new engine harness, but it's for a '70 and not a '74 so I decided to use that one temporarily until the correct one arrives. The car starts and runs the same with either the old or new temporary harness, I just feel a little safer with the new one being in better condition.