73 Plymouth Valiant no electricity

[BWA]

Have a 73 Valiant 4dr. Drove it into my shed a couple of years ago. Was running fine when I turned it off.

Went to dig it out today, put a fresh battery in it, went to start it, and, no ign light, wouldn't turn over (no solenoid clicking). Tried the lights, nothing.

It is just like the battery is not connected. I checked ground, and, have chassis ground, have + voltage at the big red wire on the starter, and, same on the big wire going to a solenoid on the firewall near the left hood hinge.

Electrons are not getting beyond those two points.

The only reference in the Haynes manual, is to the Alternator charge/discharge meter (ammeter) in the dash either being defective, or, having loose wires. Apparently, this makes the entire wiring system dead, which, is what I have.

Any other ideas out there.

To take the dash cluster out of this thing, it looks like I might have to drop the steering column a few inches. This sound right??

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[goldduster318]

Check the bulkhead connector. You should be able to back probe the two wires that go to the ammeter from under the dash. They should have +12V all the time.

If you don't, the fuse link is probably open. Otherwise, I'd be worried about the ammeter or its connections.

 

[dart67]

The same thing happened to me and the fuse link came apart, put it together and everything worked, good luck

 

[67Dart273]

"Haynes." Get rid of that thing. Obtain yourself, either on CD or reprint paper, a proper Chrysler corp. shop manual

You can download a 72 here, the latest I know of for free. 73 and later, you have to buy. I believe I've got screen captures of 73 wiring

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?p=1970088617

This sounds like a blown fuse link, which runs from the starter relay stud to the bulkhead, or a bad bulkhead connection on that same terminal, or bad connections at or a bad ammeter.

The black ammeter wire branches off on the "output" so to speak side of the ammeter and feeds the fuse panel accessory buss, the ign switch, and the headlight switch. In rare cases, this splice has failed.

Start by reading this article

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml

The diagram down that page is a very good simplification of the main power path in these cars:

 

[BWA]

The Haynes came with the car, which came with the 8 acre property I bought 3 years ago.

I had no intention of getting this thing going in the short term future, but, I just smeared a rod bearing in my 05 Kia Sedona trying to get it unstuck from my driveway (Southern Ontario, and, we've got feet of snow).

The Kia is still running, but, knocking pretty good. I'm just thinking it will be cheaper to get the Plymouth up and running than fixing the Kia. I can deal with the Kia latter when the weather is better.

Excellent post, link, and diagram. Pretty sure I can bypass it in the engine compartment with that diagram.

Thanks again for the very helpful posts and, quick response.

Al(BWA)

 

[BWA]

Well, good news bad news.

Bad news is, the Kia did expire, a slow and sad self destruction. It almost got me home, finally expiring a couple hundred yards from my driveway. Unfortunately, my driveway is 3/4 mile long, so, it was still a bit of a hike home in the freezing snow covered Great White North.

Good news is, the Valiant is going. Turned out to be a real easy fix in the end. Only needed to cut one wire, strip an inch of insulation from another wire, and, splice/solder them both together.

Absolutely would not have figured it out without the very quick help from this forum.

Thanks immensely.:wav:

 

[67Dart273]

Well I don't know a thing about Kia LOL.

 

[Lowandslow]

Hey guys sorry to jump in your post and hijack but I am having a similar problem same car 73 valiant 4 door with 198 motor. She cranks but no spark from coil, only occasionally when I turn back to off position I get 1 late fire that causes a back fire out of my intake. I replaced the ignition coil, ballast resistor, starter relay, an ecu I'm racking my brain but can't come to a solution

 

[67Dart273]

Low, you should never tag onto someone else's thread like this as it makes two "things" difficult to follow, but in this case this one seems to be dead, anyhow.

Some "stuff"

First thing to try is get yourself a clip lead and clip from starter relay battery stud (battery source) directly to coil positive terminal, and see if you have spark.

It is important to understand how Mopar ignition switches work. "Ignition run" or "IGN1" is powered ONLY in the run position, not start, nor accessory, and feeds power (among other things) to the ignition and alternator field, and dash cluster

THIS GOES DEAD in "start." The only ignition power for "start" (crank) comes from IGN2 or the "bypass" circuit. This is a separate switch contact in the ign switch which only goes one place-------out the bulkhead connector to the coil + side of the coil

IF the clip lead trick does not give you spark,

Remove the ECU from the firewall, scrape the firewall and ECU clean around the bolt holes, and remount, using star lock washers. The ECU MUST be grounded

Pull all connectors, the ECU, the resistor, the distributor, inspect with a light, and work in/ out several times. The distributor is especially fussy as there is no real current in that connector.

Check for spark right at the coil tower using a grounded probe, that is, eliminate even the coil HT wire.

Get yourself a .008" (inches not metric) brass feeler gauge. O'Reallys used to stock these. Check the reluctor to pickup coil gap in the distributor, and check it carefully for strike damage, play in the shaft, rust and debri sticking to the (magnetized) pickup coil.

With the key in "run" disconnect the distributor connector. I forget which one, so try both terminals. You can ground /unground one of the distributor pickup terminals and produce a spark each time. This shows the ECU is "probably" OK

Connect your meter to the distributor connector, on low AC that's right AC volts. Cranking the engine should "generate" about 1V AC

Check coil + voltage. With key in run, voltage at coil+ will be somewhere between 4 and 8 volts. If it's same as battery, something is wrong.

You have a tach? It should "jump" as you crank the engine. Or hook your multimeter or a test lamp to coil NEG. and crank. Light should go bright / dim meter should jump

Put your meter on coil + and crank the engine USING THE KEY. This should give you "same as" cranking battery voltage, and in no case less than 10V, the more the better.

 

[sireland67]

You need 12v to the coil when cranking, check the ignition switch wiring, or the ignition switch.

I am sure 67dart273 can tell you what color the wires are.