Ramcharger fusable link question

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gliderider06

gliderider06

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So , my 87 Ramcharger burnt up a disable link this morning on my way to work. I hit a hard bump in the road and my lights went out a few seconds and came back on. I smelled wires burning but quickly went away. I now have no heater blower and power windows. Everything else works.
I traced back to the fusable links and found one burnt. I tried to replace with a cheap inline fuse but no luck. There are 4 links that tie into a rubber y block.
Can I just cut that Y block out a, solder, and heat shrink them back together? Can I eliminate the links altogether since I don't have any new ones?
The pictures are of the links I'm talking about.
20190220_163814.jpg
20190220_171634.jpg
 
I would not cut the y connection out.
I would wire in a fuse holder on the link that burned and for testing purposes use a resetting fuse in it.
Then find what caused that circut to short out.
 
gliderider06 said:
So , my 87 Ramcharger burnt up a disable link this morning on my way to work. I hit a hard bump in the road and my lights went out a few seconds and came back on. I smelled wires burning but quickly went away. I now have no heater blower and power windows. Everything else works.
I traced back to the fusable links and found one burnt. I tried to replace with a cheap inline fuse but no luck. There are 4 links that tie into a rubber y block.
Can I just cut that Y block out a, solder, and heat shrink them back together? Can I eliminate the links altogether since I don't have any new ones?
The pictures are of the links I'm talking about.View attachment 1715292301 View attachment 1715292302
Click to expand...
Would be best to replace the burnt fusable link with a new one, most any automotive parts store, NAPA would have it in stock,
Keep in mind that when you hit that bump, something in that circuit shorted and that blown fusable link saved you from additional wiring damage.
And what ever grounded, may still be grounded.
 
Those are all good ideas.
If it burnt up the fuse, then its likely the problem is still there.
A fusible link is a short piece of wire smaller than the smallest wire downstream. Bypass it and you will burn something bigger, possibly next to something flammible.
Usually links are protecting against battery shorts to ground. Look along that wire for missing insulation or similar touching the body or chassis.
Shop manual will help but in then end you will still have to hunt it down.
For trouble shooting if you can't spot it, if you can wire a circuitbreaker and a test lamp in series, that would be more convenient than popping fuses.
 
gliderider06 said:
I now have no heater blower and power windows. Everything else works.
Click to expand...
If the owners manual or FSM shows those are on fuses, and they are not blown, then you know the problem is between the fuses and the fusible link.
 
The wire burnt at the Y connector. There is just a nub sticking out of it, so I will need to cut into it. It never blew a fuse, just the link. The Windows and blower are on the same bridge, on the back side of the fuse block. I am going to get one of those resettable circuit breakers and try to hunt it down with that, other than the inline fuse holder.
 
I have no clue where the actual fault is.
You have a large gauge wire there with 4 fusible link branching from it. One link burned away to no longer usable. rather than whittle into the factory fancy molded branch block you could replace the fusible link and add a wire all the way to wherever that original feed wire comes from, or cut the entire branch block out and put all the connections on a threaded contact post with ring terminals. That is what I would do. Ford loaded there fusible link contacts on their starter solenoid. GM and others used a contact/terminal post. Feck ma mopars unserviceable way to do it.
 
Power windows- open door,pop boot over wiring and shove it over into door, that will expose wires. You WILL find broken wires in there. I add 6” of wire, usually a piece of block heater cord as its really flexible. I solder and heat shrink the ends and move each joint into door and inside frame. This way the soldered connections arent in the flex area.i then tape the bundle back up and slide boot back into position.

The fuse link has to carry some big amps,all the loads combined.
At least momentarily,probably 40 amps.
Could add a lead from same source as the Y and put in a proper gauge fuse link.
Happy hunting!
 
I'm old school I replaced all my fusible links and keep a spare of each one in my glove box. Never had to use one. Heres a link to help you install the right ones. If you match your wire size with a same gauge fusible link then all wiring will fry. Use the right size accordingly .Just my thoughts. Check your wires as Tooljunkie suggested.The link is just doing its job.
Catalog
 
Without an accurate diagram you/ we/ I are just shooting into the dark. I have no documentation on those girls.
 
You can buy color coded links at most local auto parts stores.

Dodge recommended splicing them in on the other side of the fat multi-splice. This asumes you are comfortable with soldering.
http://www.offroadexchange.com/pdf/79dodge_diagrams_intro.pdf

This is prob a correct color identification for your truck's links if you can't find any other ref.
Color Wire Gauge of Link
Black 12
Red 14
Dark Blue 16
Grey 18
Orange 20
White 22

Whether the colors available in the store will match, IDK. Important thing is the link's wire size.
 
Tooljunkie said:
Power windows- open door,pop boot over wiring and shove it over into door, that will expose wires. You WILL find broken wires in there. I add 6” of wire, usually a piece of block heater cord as its really flexible. I solder and heat shrink the ends and move each joint into door and inside frame. This way the soldered connections arent in the flex area.i then tape the bundle back up and slide boot back into position.

The fuse link has to carry some big amps,all the loads combined.
At least momentarily,probably 40 amps.
Could add a lead from same source as the Y and put in a proper gauge fuse link.
Happy hunting!
Click to expand...
I quickly looked at this last night. At some point, all the wires at the door opening were cut and have butt splices on them. The boot going into the door is split and wires may have rubbed through there. I was more focused on finding the fault at the power source (link) than looking at that. I will pull the door panel off tonight and check when I get home from work.
 
I got out to the beast yesterday, pulled drivers door panel and wiring mess going into it. I cut out all the butt connectors that were put in long before me. Soldered, heat shrank all the wires, re taped the harness. Couldn't find any spots that shorted out, unless it was one of those that had the connectors on. Got a new 20 ga fuse link wire from NAPA and got it soldered in. It works, no shorts. I'm not convinced that it's fixed, so I'm going to pull the passenger door panel and do the same there too. If i can't find anything on passenger side , I'll pull the dash cluster and trace the wiring under the dash too.
Thanks for the help fellas!
 
gliderider06 said:
I quickly looked at this last night. At some point, all the wires at the door opening were cut and have butt splices on them. The boot going into the door is split and wires may have rubbed through there. I was more focused on finding the fault at the power source (link) than looking at that. I will pull the door panel off tonight and check when I get home from work.
Click to expand...
Those repairs make me crazy!
I would go on a rant, but know this, doing the repair that way is a repeatable failure. Guess next time i do door jamb wiring repairs i will document it. Its akward and time consuming.
 
Mattax said:
You can buy color coded links at most local auto parts stores.

Dodge recommended splicing them in on the other side of the fat multi-splice. This asumes you are comfortable with soldering.
http://www.offroadexchange.com/pdf/79dodge_diagrams_intro.pdf

This is prob a correct color identification for your truck's links if you can't find any other ref.
Color Wire Gauge of Link
Black 12
Red 14
Dark Blue 16
Grey 18
Orange 20
White 22

Whether the colors available in the store will match, IDK. Important thing is the link's wire size.
Click to expand...

OK, LOL, WHERE did you find this link, and why can't I find "more of it" on that website?
 
67Dart273 said:
OK, LOL, WHERE did you find this link, and why can't I find "more of it" on that website?
Click to expand...
I was lucky. LOL. It seems like you never know what a search engine will return.
I knew I'd seen the color list somewhere but didn't remember where. Lemme check my browser's history.
I typed fusible link dodge color code into duckduckgo.
The pdf from '79 was a direct link to the pdf.
The color codes I typed came from this page on Minimopar resources.
Electrical Issues - MiniMopar Resources
Those colors seem to match the ones I've seen on our cars, so I figured its valid for most mopars.
 
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