Car Won't Start After Removing Interior and Gauges

-
1969VADart

1969VADart

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2013
Messages
2,498
Reaction score
811
Location
Fredericksburg, VA
I have almost completed stripping the interior of my car as I get ready to take it to the body shop. All of the gauge cluster and heater/AC controls have been removed. I did not remove the ignition switch, so that I could start and move the car around. However, when we first tried to crank it up we were not able to get it to start. We were able to rub the red and black wires that attach to the ammeter together and get it to start intermittently using the ignition. Is there something grounded in the dash or something that I may be overlooking that would prevent the car from starting? I have checked the harness under the dash and nothing seems out of place.
 
You have to bolt the red and black wires together and tape them off. These are your ammeter wires.
 
67Dart273 said:
You have to bolt the red and black wires together and tape them off. These are your ammeter wires.
Click to expand...

And they are hot if the battery is hooked up. If they touch metal and ground out, they will burn a hole in your dash really quick. Don't ask me how I know these things.
:banghead:
 
I 4th this. Actually, what you MAY want to do is to trace these wires back to the engine compartment and splice them together there. there is no good reason to have that kind of current flowing through the firewall.
 
Well You have to if you figure on running things like, the lights, the heater, the ignition.............
 
Also applies and depends on what model...
If the wiper switch is still connected and not grounded,
They wipers may not run or may not stop.
 
Started messing with it again this afternoon. After bolting the two ammeter leads together, I was still having the intermittent start problem. Discovered that the connections at the back of the ignition switch were loose. Could have come from all of the pulling on the harness when I was removing the gauges and from the dash. Either way, once we disconnected the ignition switch and pushed it back together tight, we had no more issues with the intermittent problems. Not really worried about anything else working right now. We just wanted to be able to move the car around before the motor and transmission are completely out. Thanks again to everyone for the insight.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top