Help! No power!

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49ersrock

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I have a 67 Valiant with a newer steering column (has the key in it) and it also has an amp meter and a volt meter. I have owned the car for nearly two years but I rarely drive it.
I went to drive it the other day, after installing a small Holley Fuel Pump on it. After I wired it up (I wired the hot to the fuel sender and grounded it on the frame) and primed the fuel pump, I triend starting it and it wouldnt fire. I checked and discovered that it wasnt getting fuel in the carb. An easy fix I thought. So after taking care of that, I tried starting it again. It turned over for about 5 seconds and then stopped. Nothing, no power at all. No lights, no gauges were moving, not turning over, nothing. Its like there wasnt a battery in it. (battery had a fresh charge).

I was never an electrical guy, even back when I raced at Gainesville in the late 70's-early 80's and I have no idea where to start looking. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
I would encourage you to run a relay for this situation.

I am assuming you have the battery in the front of the car.

Use a heavy gauge wire (#10? Hopefully someone will chime in) and run it from the positive (or very near) post of battery. Run this wire all the way back to pump (this wire will actually go to the new relay).

Then run a wire for a switch. This wire can be a much lighter duty (say 16 or 18 gauge). If you don't want some ugly switch sticking out of your stock dash, now is an opportunity to place it stealth and it becomes an anti theft device. The switch needs power too, so keep this in mind. The switch power doesn't need to come from the battery it just needs to be "on" when the key is turned. You could bogart from the fuse box here.

Once you have these things in place, you are essentially running grounds after that.

It's ben a couple months so i may have this wrong, and since Del is on hiatus, well .......

Screenshot_20240503-060820.png

30 is the heavy to batt

87 to hot pump wire (heavy gauge)

86 to the switch (light gauge)

This way you aren't running the power needed by the pump, through the switch, the switch triggers the relay and the power for the pump runs through that heavy wire.
 
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You wired an electric fuel pump to the fuel sender wire?? The fuel sender works off of a 5v lead from the instrument cluster, nowhere near what the fuel pump requires to operate. You run the risk of frying your IVR (instrument voltage regulator) and possibly gauges. DON'T attempt to operate it like this!
Disconnect that pump and try to get power back to the rest of the systems, sounds like a fusible link may have let go. You're gonna have to get friendly with your VOM and start tracing circuits and checking fuses. Get the Factory Service manual for your car or one close to it in year or model (Dart/Barracuda, etc.); they're available for free over at mymopar.com and contain the complete wiring diagrams for your car.
When it comes time to wire the pump back up, connect your wire to a switched hot lead and connect it to a relay fed off of a fused hot lead to the battery, then connect the relay to the pump.
 
Voltmeter is best but test light would work. Start at battery with headlights or key or both on and see where you have power and not. Wiring diagram helps.
 
The original post sounds exactly like a bad battery cable connection.
The starter wouldn’t blow a fusible link.
 
The fuel sender only acts as a return for ground potential back to the gauge on a roughly 10 to 70 ohm scaling. There shouldn't technically be more than milliamp current to the sending unit. I don't recall right off, but is the instrument cluster gauge voltalge still regulated through the fuel gauge in '67?
 
I checked the fusable link and it seems ok. There is also a volt meter in the car as well. I looked at the amp meter and one lug is very loose. Both still are connected to wires. I am going to splice them together to bypass it. I have crackbacks alternator bypass I am also going to install. But there is a usable link in the kit. Very small wire to it. Where does it go?
 
it should be in the charging circuit at the point where it ties into the positive circuit side of the battery, usually at the starter relay. But, just to make sure @crackedback…
 
Just a stupid question.
Did you check the battery terminals and the cables going to them.?
Click to expand...
Trust me, this kind of thing happens more often than you think.
 
I'm saying this with all of the Christian and brotherly car guy love I can muster, so don't take it the wrong way. From your posts, you really need to read up on vehicle electrical systems, Chrysler products especially. I'm not sayin this cause I think you're stupid, but the exact opposite. I think you're smart enough to follow good instructions and I'm giving you some. The absolute LAST thing you want is your car in a pile of ashes.....RIGHT?
 
I could't agree more with that statement. It can quickly turn into a helluva expensive education...
 
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