short circuit ? electrical prolem? help!

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68darrt

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the other day i was driving my dart, when all of a sudden, i lost all power. I had some buddies help me push it back to the school parking lot, and i noticed the ballast resistor was cracked, so i figured that was the problem. I changed it and i still had nothing. So i checked the fuseabkle lnk, and it was fried, so i replaced it but as soon as i touched the positive terminal it cooked the fusable link again. i looked under the dash, for a short, but i havnt looked too indepth. I was wondering if anyoe else had the same problem, and what fixed it?
 
I'm not absolutely sure what your problem is, but it's definitely a short, and it sounds like a doozy..........

If you can, check the harness that runs through the dash...........it has a big ganged section behind and slightly to the left of your gauge cluster....probably runs along the top, up under the lip of the steel dash frame.......

I have seen these short out in there just due to age and vibration......they rub against the retainers, and sometimes get screws stuck through them when the clusters are worked on...........

It won't hurt to check and see........If it starts to fry, you can lose the harness and even the car in quite a jiffy.............

I'm not sure your link is routed through those circuits..........Be safe.
 
yep you have a short. Fusible link is doing exactly what it should do. Now for where to look... amp gauge !, headlight switch, ignition switch, lighter well, heater blower. Most of these can be unplugged for isolating or narrowing down where the short is.
 
hey thanks for the suggestions guys, i just ran out and grabbed myself a multi meter, so ill begin to hunt around for a short tonite.
 
i figured out my problem! the alternator is toast and it is the source of my ground. The alternator going also explains my ballast resistor breaking in half! thanks for the advice redfish and pastortom1!
 
Glad you found it. My duster did the same thing. It took me starting my resto a year early on it to find the problem tho.

Years of splices, add-ons, ect. have made it imposs. to pinpoint the source. I $hit you not, I found several connections that were wrapped with scotch tape!! Im just going to rewire the entire thing, & start with all new stuff. I was going to do it anyways, might as well get started on it.

Glad yours was an easy fix!!
 
Diodes can fail 2 ways. Opened or shorted. We don't see the shorted example nearly as often as the open. When all 6 work, the alternator is strong, but if one or more open up the alternator works but is weak, and a
unique whine emanates from the alternator ( can be heard in the car).
This is due to uneven AC rectifying out of the 3-phases.
The "missing" pole's output then can be heard.
You can go years like this, if only one goes out.
Often the wires break on the old press-in diodes, right at the base of the wire.
This is due to side tension being left on the lead in soldering.
The wiring from the stator should be arranged to have no tension or stress
on the diode lead before soldering.
 
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