No elec. power to my 66 Dart

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Flatlander

Flatlander

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Wouldn't you know, I drive my '66 Dart to a benefit show our CC was helping with and when I go to start it no elec. power.....period.....nada...........zip. The horn works but other than that, nothing. It has a 273 in it and everthing in the car worked perfect aside from the sending unit. We found it would crank just fine if we jumped the relay, but no fire. No headlights, dome, signals, radio, nor click when key turned. We checked the wiring and found it to be good. We are wondering if it isn't the ignition switch.

I has an alt. gauge that shows charge/discharge, can this cause problems? The needle on it was bumping around on the high end of the charge side on the way to the show.

Thanks in advance.
 
Same thing happend to me last week.

My friend Cuda69 informed me that lots of power runs through the alt. gauge and in order to check, I could jump power from the positive on the battery to the positive (large connection) on the alternator. Doing that gave me power. I was able to reach back and wiggle the connection at the back of the alternator gauge and all has been well since.

You might want to give that a try...
 
Its early for me to think clearly But I think it is your started relay or it is not grounded good.
 
the ignition switch cant interupt headlighhts, brakelights, domelight.
The bulkhead connections, fusible link, and amp gauge can interupt everything, as you describe. Hope this helps
 
Thanks guys for the quick replies. I'll start checking it out this evening.

John, a fellow member with a 66 Charger, was kind enough to trailer it home for me. They're a bunch of great guys.
 
Had the same problem in a 73 duster, was the connection at the amp gauge.. Also one time for some reason the fuseable link fried in my 66 Dart and I lost all power to everything.. So that is where I would look first.
 
From the sound of it the ammeter has gone south,there are two wires that feed it, unhook the battery and then disconnect the two feed wires with a 3/8 and then hook them both back up to the same terminal on the back of the instrument cluster and then hook the battery back up and all should be well but the ammeter will not work...if that doesn't fix it then is probably the fuseable link.hope this is helpful
 
I agree with most of the others here, you lost your main 12v source going into the firewall. It's open somewhere in the series circuit, most likely at the ammeter but it very well could be the fusible link connected to the red wire at the firewall or the connectors on the same wire. The wiring goes in via the fat red wire and comes out via the fat black wire directly to the alternator "bat" terminal. Remember, you're looking for an open in the circuit, not a short.
 
Blue Dart is up and running.:cheers:

A friend and I checked the wiring from the battery back to the firewall and everything was OK and called it a night. Yesterday during lunch I tightened the leads to the ammeter, still no power. Then I put both leads on the same terminal...............It came to life.:-D

What a relief. Thanks everyone for the good advice.

Now I need to change out the ammeter.:angry7:
 
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