73 Dart Alternator doesn't show charge anymore.

[SputnikOne]

Pulled the red wire and the fuse finally after I got some fuse pullers, it felt decently warm in my hand which I'm not sure is normal or not as the car hasn't been running for atleast 24 hours and the battery was disconnected a few minutes before I pulled it, after it came out it came apart rather easy but it may have just been from me pulling on it. Nevertheless it's obviously screwed, burnt on one end like a cigarette.

I have replacement fuses, but I'm not sure if I should out a new fuse in until I find what could've possibly broken the old one, seems like an unnecessary risk.

 

[SputnikOne]

Took out the bulbs for the grille parking/indicator lamps, as they were the only bulbs I haven't replaced recently, and they've definitely seen better days, can bad sockets like this cause short? I didn't seen any continuity between the bulb and the socket on my multimeter.

 

[Dana67Dart]

If the fuse is a 15 or 20 amp put a 5 amp in ant reconnect the battery. Without a load it should not blow. So that will prove that there is not a direct short in the wires before their respective switches.

Then if all is right replace it with the correct amperage.

I'm 80% sure the fuse was that way which fits with the 12v with no load and no voltage with a load.

 

[SputnikOne]

Yeah that makes sense, don't have a 5 volt fuse right now though, I'll have to wait a bit to retest it.

 

[SputnikOne]

Another update, put in a 5A fuse as requested, and reconnected the battery with everything off and the fuse seems fine, took it out after a minute or two and it was still cold to the touch and looked okay, so I put in the 20A as the socket specifies and reconnected everything and the lights come on now, the 20A didn't blow at all with the lights on either, so now I'm wondering if it was just a slow failure of the last fuse, or if that red cable really was the culprit.

Would you recommend doing the 5A test again but with the red cable in? You guys said it was for the brake light switch and if that's so I'd of course like it to have power, but I'm not sure why its spliced in like that.

 

[Dana67Dart]

Good news.

Would you recommend doing the 5A test again but with the red cable in? You guys said it was for the brake light switch and if that's so I'd of course like it to have power, but I'm not sure why its spliced in like that

I doubt the red wire spliced into the fuse is for the brakes.

With it removed what doesn't work?

Tracing out where the red wire goes should be the first thing you do but reinserting it with a 5 amp fuse should cause no harm.

Before you do this with the fuse removed determine which side of the fuse holder is powered, and don't put the red wire on that side of the fuse.

 

[SputnikOne]

Well like I mentioned earlier this is where the red wire goes, this metal plate just above the steering collum, but it's not evident to me what it's for, and I checked last night I didn't have any brake lights.

 

[Mattax]

As I mentioned before its a hazard. Stop kidding yourself and fix this and clean all the corroded and oxidized connections. It's not that difficult and you've already shown you're adept at following the diagrrams.

Get yourself fiber brush 'pen' and DeOxit or similar, along with a open crimper, some terminals and shrink tubing. You'll do fine. Keep an eye out for water leaks getting to the back of the instrument panel.

 

[Mattax]

Took out the bulbs for the grille parking/indicator lamps, as they were the only bulbs I haven't replaced recently, and they've definitely seen better days, can bad sockets like this cause short? I didn't seen any continuity between the bulb and the socket on my multimeter.

View attachment 1716458797

View attachment 1716458798

A bad socket will result in poor grounding.
An incorrectly installed double filament bayonet base can result in some weird cross circuit shorting

 

[SputnikOne]

All the connections appear to be alright on whatever this is, it's not that I'm worried about I just am not sure why it's spliced into a fuse and what it's *actually* supposed to be connected too, I can't really look at the diagram for it because I don't know what it is, if it is the brake lights it's supposed to be on fuse 4 and not fuse 5, if that matters, they should be the same power source.

 

[SputnikOne]

I've removed the grille lamp bulbs for now as I have indicators on my headlights, I'm pretty sure they make new sockets for these lamps, since it's just a piece you can disconnect at the connector downstream. So I'll probably end up replacing the socket and getting an LED replacement bulb to match the rest of my lights, assuming I can find an amber one.

But yes, currently the brake lights do not work, and that red wire is the only other thing that's different about the circuit, so I'll try to connect it with the 5A tomorrow and check if it's shorted at all, before I plug the splice into the non powered side of the 20A and test the brake lights.

 

[Mattax]

All the connections appear to be alright on whatever this is, it's not that I'm worried about I just am not sure why it's spliced into a fuse and what it's *actually* supposed to be connected too, I can't really look at the diagram for it because I don't know what it is, if it is the brake lights it's supposed to be on fuse 4 and not fuse 5, if that matters, they should be the same power source.

Remove it and find the wire that is supposed to run to the brake light switch.
Use your meter to check the switch. The switch is adjustable.

LED will mess up the flashers for turn and hazards. If you want LED bulbs thats a little project of its own.

 

[SputnikOne]

I already have LED flashers, installed, did that myself.

I got some work to do I suppose, as currently it seems the hazards only work if one of the blinkers are running, which leads me to believe that the hazard flasher isn't even connected.

This probably explains why the brake lights are connected directly to the fuse, as in the drawing it shares power off of the hazard flasher relay.

 

[Mattax]

So look for the connectors and see if something is amiss. Then check for power at each.

 

[SputnikOne]

My worry is that purple wire just may not be there anymore, can't check until tomorrow but it would make sense as to why it was rerouted.

 

[SputnikOne]

Here's an old picture from under the dash, not exactly sure if the purple wire is supposed to be apart of the rest of the harness but I don't see it anywhere around the brake switch the red wire is connected too.

 

[Mattax]

Look at the key.
The violet wire is for the horn. H1 16V => Horn 1, 16 gage wire, Violet insulation.

There's a 1974 Master Tech filmstrip and booklet about wiring diagrams. It covers the new style of diagrams introduced in 1973 and explains all of the wire codes.
pdf version here: Browse MTSC by Model Year – 1974 – MyMopar
These later diagrams are hard to keep track of individual circuits. Use the diagram to make your own drawing of just the circuit(s) you are interested in.

Complete listing of the Master Booklets and films is here:
Master Technician Service Conference - Chrysler's Training for Mechanics
Once you know the year to look under you may want to go to back to the mymopar website to view them in pdf format.

 

[SputnikOne]

Little update before I try and see what's on the fuse splice, the key buzzer also no longer works, which doesn't exactly make sense because the horn works, and they come off of the same relay.

 

[SputnikOne]

After doing the 5A test with the fuse splice installed and having no issues I reinstalled the 20A and tested the brake lights and they're working again, still nothing from the key-buzzer, could've been the part that failed (what a shame), there's a little bit of ammeter draw from the brake lights when I push the pedal but I imagine it's just from them still being halogens until a find a replacement that fits and is LED.

 

[SputnikOne]

Well nevermind on that, *with* the engine running the buzzer came back, not sure why it didn't sound with the key in but the engine off, battery drain perhaps.

 

[Dana67Dart]

Well nevermind on that, *with* the engine running the buzzer came back, not sure why it didn't sound with the key in but the engine off, battery drain perhaps

it may be getting power from the wrong source.

I CAN STRESS THIS ENOUGH...

you need to get in there and sort out the OEM wiring and why the brake light power is being sourced directly from a fuse. There is a good likelihood that there are other issues that WILL come to light someday and typically at the worst posable moment