My Lee's 'Dead In The Water' So To Speak ...

[Johnny Charger]

Oh well  . It was bound to happen sooner or later        , but thankfully it happened right in my garage.

The General won't start but I think I know what the problem is, but I would like some feedback please.

When I turn the key to start the car, nothing happens... no stereo, no lights, no click, no negative draw on the alternator guage, nothing. I think that the alternator guage itself 'died' on me tonight. When I started up the car previously to move it, I revved the engine a bit and and the tachometer needle was jumping all over the place very erractically, going as high as 4 k rpm, before setting back down to around 600 rpm before I shut him down. I also noticed that the alternator guage needle went way positive, then quickly dropped back to neutral and stayed there. It has always shown a positive reading at start up to show the battery charging previously.

Now I know that all of the power that goes through the car goes through the alternator guage so I figure that since the guage is 40 years old, that it packed it in. But I would appreciate any other ideas and some feedback on this matter. Thanks. I will be pulling the dash out tomorrow to look at the guage for any obvious signs of damage and I will also look for any other obvious 'signs' of damage on the back of the cluster.

Thanks.
-J.C.

[UFO]

Could be as simple as the bulkhead connections.Very prone to cause problems.

[myk]

Bulkhead connectors, for starters.  Also, while you're in the dash area, bypass that ammeter or you run the familiar risk of burning your car to the ground.  No classic Mopar should ever have that thing hooked up...

[dkn1997]

Oh well  . It was bound to happen sooner or later        , but thankfully it happened right in my garage.

The General won't start but I think I know what the problem is, but I would like some feedback please.

When I turn the key to start the car, nothing happens... no stereo, no lights, no click, no negative draw on the alternator guage, nothing. I think that the alternator guage itself 'died' on me tonight. When I started up the car previously to move it, I revved the engine a bit and and the tachometer needle was jumping all over the place very erractically, going as high as 4 k rpm, before setting back down to around 600 rpm before I shut him down. I also noticed that the alternator guage needle went way positive, then quickly dropped back to neutral and stayed there. It has always shown a positive reading at start up to show the battery charging previously.

Now I know that all of the power that goes through the car goes through the alternator guage so I figure that since the guage is 40 years old, that it packed it in. But I would appreciate any other ideas and some feedback on this matter. Thanks. I will be pulling the dash out tomorrow to look at the guage for any obvious signs of damage and I will also look for any other obvious 'signs' of damage on the back of the cluster.

Thanks.
-J.C.

I'd say that if your amp gauge went way positive last time you ran it, maybe you got a bad volt reg, overcharged your batt, and killed it?  start with the basics, clean the bulkhead connectors, starter relay connectors, terminals on starter solenoid on starter, batt cables, alt cables..... then throw a charge into that batt and see if you have fire (pun)

try charging the battery real good, then disconnect the terminals and leave it overnight. if it holds a charge, then it's probably good and you have a draw/bad alt.

[Johnny Charger]

Thanks for all the suggestions Guys  . After talking to good ol' Martin T ( '69chargeryeehaa' ), the 1st thing I checked & cleaned was the ground wire from the battery to the block and 'VRROOOOMM...'    , he started right up     . Actually I noticed that he cranked stronger & started easier which was Very Nice    .

Don't worry myk, I will upgrade my alternator gauge to an aftermarket volt meter as soon as I can, probably with a fuseable link as well. I sure as heck don't need or want any fires  .

Thanks again for all of the suggestions Guys, and a Special 'Thank You' to my Good Buddy Martin as well   

[JimShine]

I would mod the system ASAP. You will not regret it and it takes very little time and money to make a big difference. The Madelectrical.com version has been talked about often here and I am a believer in it. We have upgraded every old Mopar around here using that method with the best results.

[myk]

Hell, even disconnecting the wires to the ammeter and connecting them with a nut and bolt is better than having the ammeter hooked up at all...