1969 Charger: Smoke from dash, car stalled and all power gone (FOUND SOURCE)

[69ISFINALLYMINE]

I was driving my 69 Charger yesterday for the first time after a lengthy stay in the garage for front brake caliper replacement.  I had a good 10 miles on it when I put the turn signal on and as I made my turn I saw smoke coming up from the dash cluster area and I lost all power (engine stalled, turn signals quit, ignition would not restart car, etc).  I turned the key off as I coasted the car off the side of the road and had to get a tow home.  I realize I have an electrical fire issue and I plan to start to pull the dash apart this weekend. I have read some threads here about how the instrument cluster circuit boards are prone to failure, but I would think that I would still have igition power if that were the case.  Is there a main fusible link in the under-dash circuit? If so, where?  I checked all fuses in the fuse box and they were good.  Man this really sucks.

Doc

[tan top]

could be the the amp gauge , has caused this .... fuesible link is on the engine side of the fire wall  goes to the starter relay   

read this link  ..also there have been a few threads about this kind of stuff , try doing a search 


http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,50766.20.html 

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml

[Ghoste]

Has all the earmarks of a burnt amp guage or fusable link just like tan top says.  Time to start isolating circuits and the link is the easiest one to check first.  It's on the other side of the firewall but you never know.  Smoke makes one think of the guage though. 

[69ISFINALLYMINE]

I did some more research here as tan top suggested and read the mad electrical article.  Wow.  GREAT writeup!  I was able to go straight to the souce (I think) and find the problem.  First off, I found that the fusable link on the firewall (wired to the starter solenoid terminal) had some melted insulation.  I started messing with it and either the fuse wire finally broke or the insulation was all that was left and it broke, so I am thinking that is what saved my car from a melt down.  I looked at the connector that the link goes through on the firewall and it was melted a bit at the terminal, which may or may not be recent, but it could be the souce of the smoke under my dash yesterday.  I pulled the instrument cluster out as far as I could without disconnecting anything other than the speedometer cable and didn't see any signs of fire/heat/smoke damage, but that doesn't mean that the ammeter didn't burn out internally. My car has original wiring and with the recent events I went ahead and bypassed my ammeter today.  Rather than unbolt both terminals and screw the ring lugs together and then tape them up like some people recommend I just moved one of the wires from one side of the ammeter over to the other terminal and tighted the nut down to jumper the two wires together.  I also used one of the left over internal-toothed lock washers from the other terminal and stuck it between the two ring lugs before tightening as an added measure for a solid connection (that is what they are for). 
I followed the recommendations in the mad electrical writeup (www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml) and used my dremel tool to drill out the terminals for the positive battery feed and the alternator feed that went through the firewall connectors and will be crimping/soldering pass-through connections on those circuits tomorrow.  I am also going to take the recommendations from the writeup and run two fusable links: one for the factory dash circuit and a second fusable link to connect the alternator directly to the battery through the starter solenoid terminal post instead of taking the full current of the alternator through the dash harness and back to the battery.
This was a major problem for me when I woke up this morning, and you guys pointed me in the right direction fast and I was able to get to the bottom of the issue ASAP.  I wasn't sure how to search for the topic since I didn't know if it was the ammeter, fusable link, etc.  All I knew is that I had smoke coming out of my dash and a search on that came up empty (until now).  Thanks again for your help guys, and happy new year.

Doc

[69ISFINALLYMINE]

I found the actual cause of the fusible link burning up.  My alternator field terminal was very VERY loose and was contacting the internals of the alternator intermittently and caused a hard ground.  I took it in to a shop near me this morning to have it checked while I did my dash wiring inspection and he pointed that out to me.  That would definitely pull a lot of juice through the ammeter circuit and pop the fusible link.  It was essentially putting the battery straight to ground (through the wiring harness and out through the alternator).  20 bucks to have the alternator straightened out and tested, and a few dollars at Autozone on fusible link material is all it cost me.  In a way, I think I can say I was lucky.

Doc

[1969chargerrtse]

I found the actual cause of the fusible link burning up.  My alternator field terminal was very VERY loose and was contacting the internals of the alternator intermittently and caused a hard ground.  I took it in to a shop near me this morning to have it checked while I did my dash wiring inspection and he pointed that out to me.  That would definitely pull a lot of juice through the ammeter circuit and pop the fusible link.  It was essentially putting the battery straight to ground (through the wiring harness and out through the alternator).  20 bucks to have the alternator straightened out and tested, and a few dollars at Autozone on fusible link material is all it cost me.  In a way, I think I can say I was lucky.

Doc

I think you were very lucky.

[69ISFINALLYMINE]

Yes.  In fact, every time I think about the wiring change that I made this week to bypass the dash wiring and connect the alternator directly to the battery through the starter solenoid terminal I feel really good about it.  I will never have an accurate ammeter with that change, but I will also never have full alternator current going through my dash harness.  The big change that offers the most protection is the 16gauge fusible link that is now in series with the dash harness power wire.  The old system used a 14gauge fusible link because of the extra current flow from the alternator, through the harness, and back out to the battery.  Without the alternator current going through the dash harness I can go with a smaller fusible link and offer even more protection to the dash harness wiring.  Sweet.  For protection in the alternator-to-battery circuit I stuck with a 14gauge fusible link to maintain the original capability of that circuit. 

doc

I found the actual cause of the fusible link burning up.  My alternator field terminal was very VERY loose and was contacting the internals of the alternator intermittently and caused a hard ground.  I took it in to a shop near me this morning to have it checked while I did my dash wiring inspection and he pointed that out to me.  That would definitely pull a lot of juice through the ammeter circuit and pop the fusible link.  It was essentially putting the battery straight to ground (through the wiring harness and out through the alternator).  20 bucks to have the alternator straightened out and tested, and a few dollars at Autozone on fusible link material is all it cost me.  In a way, I think I can say I was lucky.

Doc

I think you were very lucky.

[RAWPWR]

This brings back memories. Many moons ago (1978) I was on one of those highway clover leafs, exiting one and entering another. Doing as I always did when entering the second highway, dropped the 727 into 1 and nailed the gas peddle to the floor. As in the past the 440 came to life and started the 0-60mph, but as I got to about 30mph silence, nothing, car off, 8-track off and SMOKE coming through the dash. Turned to key off, coasted to the breakdown lane (very embarrassing) open the hood, and smoke every where. The wiring harness to the wiper motor melted, all fire wall harness melted. Got a ride home, told dad what happened, we went back in his GMC truck, the truck that on many occasions pushed my poor 68 Charger home. Anyway he looked under the hood, got out a coathanger, cut a length off and used the coat hanger where the fusible link "WAS". He told me to keep the POS Dodge under 70mph and will see me back at the house. Dad's a Chevy man. That's my story..been there, done that! 

[tan top]

This brings back memories. Many moons ago (1978) I was on one of those highway clover leafs, exiting one and entering another. Doing as I always did when entering the second highway, dropped the 727 into 1 and nailed the gas peddle to the floor. As in the past the 440 came to life and started the 0-60mph, but as I got to about 30mph silence, nothing, car off, 8-track off and SMOKE coming through the dash. Turned to key off, coasted to the breakdown lane (very embarrassing) open the hood, and smoke every where. The wiring harness to the wiper motor melted, all fire wall harness melted. Got a ride home, told dad what happened, we went back in his GMC truck, the truck that on many occasions pushed my poor 68 Charger home. Anyway he looked under the hood, got out a coathanger, cut a length off and used the coat hanger where the fusible link "WAS". He told me to keep the POS Dodge under 70mph and will see me back at the house. Dad's a Chevy man. That's my story..been there, done that! 

good story  .do you still have that same charger 

[RAWPWR]

Oh-YES I DO! it is my high school sweet heart and my wife doesn't mind.

[tan top]

Oh-YES I DO! it is my high school sweet heart and my wife doesn't mind.

wow thats awesome  ...i bet you have some good storys .. back in the day .....

[RAWPWR]

Well back in the day..the car was a lot more fun. We used to sit on the hood, roof, trunk what ever. as long as it went FAST and could some what stop that's all that counted. Now it's like hey! be carefull, don't scratch it. Plus not seeing other muscle cars to race on the highways, kinda has taken a lot of the fun out of it. Now it's "cruse" to a show. Before it was race to the beach and eat pizza on the hood. I'm must be getting old and grumpy now  Ahhh the good old days!

[GN]

Would this bypass work on a 74 Charger?

[69ISFINALLYMINE]

Would this bypass work on a 74 Charger?

I haven't researched all years, so all I can say is check the link at the top of this post and compare the wiring described in that link to your schematic for your '74.

[Nacho-RT74]

yes works BUT my votes ( to any year ) are for:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,33574.0.html

I still vote to keep the ammeter

[hemi68charger]

My '69 C500 did the exact same thing about two years ago... It was the amp gauge toasting on me and then frying things.. Luckily I was in a position on the interstate to kill the ignition and all power from the battery... I later got one of my spare gauges converted to a voltmeter from redline... He did a great job.. I put it all back together with no further fear of another amp gauge failure...

I have a thread some where in here.....

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,21155.0.html

Troy

[69bronzeT5]

Reading things like this is exactly why I'm getting new wiring and re-done gauges for the Charger and why I'm converting my volt gauge and carrying a fire extingusher in the Duster.