moving in 1 week and....................

[mauve66]

i had this over on the 1st gen site but i figured 10,000 heads are better than 1500 heads so ................

i did the taillight light check thing the other day due to a very demanding thread........... Whistling and had power to everything, even though the headlights wouldn't rotate open but did come on.
yesterday i charged the battery up and today went to start it...............

1.the interior dome lights came on when i opened the door
2. the external tach light (which is wired to the radio so its on when the key is on) came on when the key was switched to run
3. the neutral safety switch is off so i have been starting it for the last 6 years with a push button starter wired to the solonoid (positive to the big stud and ground to the little screw right under the stud, the connections came loose so i think that is the way i connected it, no other connections that i can see)
4. i push the starter button, get 2 clicks and the tach light goes out (which i expected due to the key being in the start positon
5. i turn the ignition off and try it again, no tach light in the run position this time, nothing from the starter
6. open the door, no dome lights
7. check battery voltage (wall charger said fully charged) with little meter, 12.47 volts
8. checked fuses in fuse box, all have continuity
9.  one thing i did just do was wire the electric choke to the ballast but did i do it right?? would it cause this, why did everything work BEFORE i turned the key??
10. i had read to wire the choke to the blue wire on the ballast but i have 2 blue wires due to the electronic ignition, 1 wire by itself on one side (this is the one i connected to) and a dark blue wire with a brown wire next to it in the the same OEM connector on the other side.  did i do this wrong??
11.  what else should i check??
12.  i have no dash lights or any external lights either
13. the choke is grounded to its own case if it makes a difference

after some replys i posted this:

nothing smells burnt, but it sounds like your saying the fusible link is gone since i no longer get any power inside the car??
did i remember to hook up the remote starter correctly??  did that short something??
if its not the fusible link then why did everything work before i turned the key??
i tried the service manual but the diagnosis section only list dead battery, ignition switch, open circuit, or starter

so i hooked it up to the wrong side of the ballast???

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,61197.0.html


i stayed away from the 2 wire blue and brown combo on the other side cause this thread said not the blue/brown wire, did they mean a wire i don't have??

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,55445.0.html

using this little meter box that i still don't fully understand........

the battery still has 12.47 volts

the positive cable from the battery to the stud on the starter relay on the firewall gives me a tone that says it has continuity but if i do the same voltage test as the battery it says i only have 8 volts and it slowly climbs from 8 to 9 volts as i hold the tester on it

i forgot that many years ago the fusible link burnt and i just replaced it with wire straight into the bulkhead connector, so no fusible link to burn out

what other things should i check and type slowly so i can figure out this meter thingy

any help would be greatly appreciated and i'm sorry i came to you guys 2nd instead of 1st   

[bordin34]

That is how I used to wire up my remote starter so it should be good.For my electric choke, I have it wired to the keyed wire going to the alternator, I forget if it is green or blue. I had a similar thing happen to my car and it turned out to be a loose connection at a bullet connector on the smaller positive side battery cable, I do not know if the connector is stock though so you may not have one and mine is a 73.

[b5blue]

Start re doing connections between 12.47 volts and 8-9 volts and try undoing any recent "changes". (for testing)

[mauve66]

no connections between battery and starter relay, 1 straight wire

i haven't started it for 1 1/2 years, only thing done was re installing dash stereo and over drive power and tach on top of dash, i still had power to all my lights before i turned the key and now nothing

[bordin34]

Hows your ammeter wiring? 

[mauve66]

stock

so, am i looking at the starter relay that sends power into the car?  where on the ignition switch do i test for 12 volts? why would the power not be going to the lights and stuff now??

[bordin34]

What condition is the ammeter wiring in, it could no longer be making a connection.

[b5blue]

I mean how the wire is made into the actual connector itself.....that's where you drop 4.47 volts(?)

[mauve66]

after searching all the elect conversion stuff i still have the ballast wired correctly and the elec choke wired correctly
even at 8-9 volts i should have dome and dash lights inside the car and none of them work after turning the key, i will take both ends of wire off and "clean it" but...........
somewhere i heard that all the power goes through the ameter then the ignition switch then to the fuse box so maybe the switch magically went when i turned it??

[bordin34]

http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/1966/66ChargerA.JPG
http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/1966/66ChargerB.JPG

[b5blue]

On a first gen I don't know, I have seen light corrosion interfere all over the place after a long sit still. Try wiggling the fuses in their clips, check grounds here and there and "work" the switch on and off a bunch of times. 

[mauve66]

Bordin34, thanks for the links but i have the service manual, still can't follow the stupid wiring diagrams, i need to get me one of those big color ones, but thats not helping me now

[bordin34]

The only thing I can suggest is unplug, scuff, and replug every connector you can and look under the dash with a flashlight to see if it is anything obvious.

[Cooter]

Clean the battery terminals...............You wouldn't think it, but i've seen these cause all kindsa hell...

[b5blue]

In there with what meant too! 

[70 500]

could be a bad battery, ive seen bad batteries due this to cars in the shop all the time, completely whacks all the electrical crazy, even if the battery will hold a charge