O SH#T FIRE!!!!

[Mean 318]

WOW! If I wouldnt have pulled them cables I would have one crispy Coronet!!! I am just glad I didnt have the new motor in it when this happened! I am now looking to mount that beutiful lil red extinguisher under the dash! maybe slap a Mopar sticker to it! Mother Mopar was looking out for me that day!

[Mean 318]

no chance you want to sell that 70 coronet huh? i am looking for one
trav

If this wasnt my first car I would prbly think about it, but I saved up for her all year when I was fifteen. Just too many memories. lol

[ChargerSG]

After seeing those kind fire im glad im having a extinguisher in my Charger...

[79LilRed]

Does this car have an amp meter? I don't know what year the car is but you have full battery power at all times to the amp gauge on older mopars (up to 1978 on Dodge pickups I think). And, well, it can lead to some interesting results if something shorts against one of the posts under your dash, or the gauge itself goes bad. Hope you can track down the cause.

Actually I have a 79 Lil Red and I have an Amp Gauge. Additionally, I looked at an 80 Dodge Pickup that had one as well. So I think up to 81 they had one or at the trucks did.

[Hemidoug]

The amp gauge has always been a source of trouble in these cars. More then 1 car has met it's end because of it. The best thing to do is replace it with a voltage gauge. If I remember correct, there is someone who guts the amp gauge and rebuilds it with a voltag gauge. Looks stock and it doesn't carry as much "juice" into the dash area. I know I saw it in MCG or Mopar Muscle rags.

[squeakfinder]

Painless wiring has a couple of page's on improvements that can be done to help prevent getting a short caused by the amp gauge. I"m not sure if the 79 and 80 are wired the same.

[79LilRed]

Painless wiring has a couple of page's on improvements that can be done to help prevent getting a short caused by the amp gauge. I"m not sure if the 79 and 80 are wired the same.

rotsparts:  It is from understanding the later model trucks and later Bs...Dobas, 300s...etc used a slightly different amp gauge. They're suppose to be a little better than the earlier ones but, they still can cause trouble.

[tan top]

  damn sorry to see that , you was lucky  could of lost the coronet . hope you get it fixed soon ,

[GreenMachine]

   Something very similar happened to my '70 Charger a couple of years ago. I was driving it to Colorado on vacation which was a 12 hour drive. On the 11th hour, I noticed my tach fluctuating and all of the sudden, the inside of my car was full of smoke. I pulled over and yanked the battery cable off. By the way, there was all sorts of traffic and nobody stopped to see if everything was alright with my car engulfed in smoke. Luckily I was following some family members that noticed I wasn't behind them and came back after a little while. I rarely stop for someone on the side of the road unless they flag me down or they obviously need help, but if I saw a car engulfed in smoke, I would definately stop. Anyway, turns out the battery wire coming out of the Alt. got smashed between the head and the distributor and fried the alt. and the wiring through the bulkhead connector to the welded splice and back out to the starter relay. I always carry a wiring kit in my trunk, but didn't have 10 ga. wire, so I ran 2 lengths of 12 ga. and replaced the burnt wiring. The wiring in the conduit with it was a little melted but I guess I caught it in time and did not burn all the way through the insulation. We went back to the nearest town and bought an alternator and had the car back on the road in about an hour and a half.
   After that incident, I installed a fusible link in between the battery and the starter relay. And with the bulkhead connector burnt, the new wire goes straight through the firewall without a spade connector, which I've heard is also a potential fire waiting to happen.

[Shakey]

The amp gauge has always been a source of trouble in these cars. More then 1 car has met it's end because of it. The best thing to do is replace it with a voltage gauge. If I remember correct, there is someone who guts the amp gauge and rebuilds it with a voltag gauge. Looks stock and it doesn't carry as much "juice" into the dash area. I know I saw it in MCG or Mopar Muscle rags.

I think Red Line Gauge Works offers this option.  I also read it in one of those magazines.