Was driving home in the 70 cuda (AAR 340/6 bbl A/T) last night. Car in front of me stopped and my motor stalled. Went to restart the 'cuda and absolutely no power anywhere. Tick tock clock dead, no lights, no 'nuttin. Got my wife to come out with jumper cables. No power anywhere to car. Had to flat bed it home. Anyone with experience - where should I look first? Previously started right up easily but guy on flatbed said to look at starter solenoid. --Please don't make me look too foolish!
Lost all electrical ...70 cuda
- Thread starter ctaarman
- Start date
Check positive to starter motor ,check fusible link near battery blue wire with tag on it ,
Try moving the plug on the firewall you may have burnt the positive feed (common issue)
If you have an ammeter check the wires on he rear are not burnt.
Check the negative battery cable hasn,t pulled out of the lug & engine to chassis ground is good.
Try moving the plug on the firewall you may have burnt the positive feed (common issue)
If you have an ammeter check the wires on he rear are not burnt.
Check the negative battery cable hasn,t pulled out of the lug & engine to chassis ground is good.
Mopars & Missiles
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Fusible link when ALL power is lost. (Assuming the electrical system is still stock, otherwise all bets are off).
moparlee
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If it is the fusible link, don't just replace it without checking out your complete electrical system for what may have caused the fusible link to fail in the first place.
Dear Austa, Mopars +Missles and Moparlee,
Thanks much for taking the time to respond. I had looked on the wiring diagram and seen the fusible link but also suspected the switch itself. You have all given me some good pointers. I have ammeter so can start probing. I'm not sure where I will find the fuseable link as the car has a Mopar trunk mounted battery. To begin, I'll search around the starter. I already did a search and found images of the fusible link. Thanks again.
Thanks much for taking the time to respond. I had looked on the wiring diagram and seen the fusible link but also suspected the switch itself. You have all given me some good pointers. I have ammeter so can start probing. I'm not sure where I will find the fuseable link as the car has a Mopar trunk mounted battery. To begin, I'll search around the starter. I already did a search and found images of the fusible link. Thanks again.
Mopars & Missiles
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This is absolutely correct advice!
Avalanche
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If the altinator dies, the car will run until the battery is dead.
If you charge the battery, does the car start? or is there no power at all even with a charged battery?
If you charge the battery, does the car start? or is there no power at all even with a charged battery?
If the link is blown to help find the short connect a high wattage 12 VDC glode say 21W in series with the link turn all switches off including the door switch then connect battery if you have a short then the globe will turn on then start disconnecting & reconnecting items until the light goes off & the short is found.
704406
Well-Known Member
Hi Avalanche,
Putting jumper cable on car did nothing. That's why I think the previous advice is very likely spot on. I especially like the creativity of Austa's suggestion. If one looks at the circuit diagram you can see how it would work.
For those who are skeptics about a battery in the trunk of a real AAR, it was a Mopar "accessory" you could purchase and install to further help performance by shifting weight to the back. I have everything original on this car all the way to the radiator, plus original sheet metal with correct numbers on everything and two original build sheets. This car was used by Year One as a model for pics (- B5 blue with bright blue 338 interior, no vinyl roof). Whenever you see an advertisement for some of their after market parts like wheels, etc. they put them temporarily on this car to take pics and also used this car as a pattern for some of their repro parts.
704406
Well-Known Member
A friend had a race car with a trunk mounted battery.
The ground was always on issue, until I ran a ground cable from the battery up to the motor for a solid ground. The ground in the trunk might not be good enough. Moparlee is correct if it's the fusible link find out what shorted before replacing it.
The ground was always on issue, until I ran a ground cable from the battery up to the motor for a solid ground. The ground in the trunk might not be good enough. Moparlee is correct if it's the fusible link find out what shorted before replacing it.
This would be correct if they only run the positive cable & relied on the chassis for the Ground.
You would have to check the rear ground & the front ground
Running a ground cable to the front would also eliminate any hot spot in the chassis metalwork due to loose bolts or rust between panels
Sixpaksteve
Well-Known Member
I'm assuming that you checked (and ruled out) that the Ballast Resistor on the firewall is bad?
Well folks, I finally had time to debug the issue, and it took a while. Here is a quiz (the answer is in the next post). Was the problem:
a) poor ground wire connection
b) bad fuseable link
c) bad alternator
d) bad ballast resistor
e) none of the above
a) poor ground wire connection
b) bad fuseable link
c) bad alternator
d) bad ballast resistor
e) none of the above
Mopars & Missiles
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It's an "E" body, so the answer has to be e).
The answer is.....
e) none of the above
Rather, the problem was the dreaded ammeter, with all of the car's current going through the firewall bulkhead connector. Here was the real challenge in finding the problem: I had power at the starter and the fuseable link. I checked the continuity of the fuseable link, it was fine. I disconnected the black wire to the alternator and the fuseable link connector to measure the loop through impedance of the ammeter circuit. It looked good (close to zero ohms) at the microamp current that the ohmmeter uses to compute resistance. So, it couldn't be the main circuit through the ammeter, could it? I reconnected the fuseable link, then I measured the voltage on the wire to the alternator - should have been close to 12 volts, but it was 7.5V. Hmm. Something not right there. I then decided to pull the bulkhead connectors. On the firewall, the female connector pin 16, which is the return from the ammeter that goes directly to the alternator, was slighly blackened but not melted. A telltale sign. I took some emory paper and fished it in and out of the connector to sand away any oxide. Then I took a small, flat blade screwdriver, and pushed the contacts closer together from the walls of the bulkhead connector. Reconnected everything and voila,problem solved (temporarily).
In doing investigation on the issue, I have decided I am going to have to bypass the connectors in the firewall. Since I am restoring the car towards concours, I need to hide the connections while making the originals appear to still work. The other thing I am debating is weather or not to replace the ammeter with a voltmeter. There is a great conversion article online that talks about how to do it so that it still looks like the original ammeter, but without all the car's current flowing through the dash!
Here are two good discussions links:
Catalog
www.moparmotorhead.com/2015/10/plymouth-barracuda-ammeter-replacement.html
I hope that by posting this, I save someone else some grief on the same issue.
I now have the windshield pulled and am taking out the dash to do a complete overhaul of gauges, plus entire heating ventilating system. What fun!
e) none of the above
Rather, the problem was the dreaded ammeter, with all of the car's current going through the firewall bulkhead connector. Here was the real challenge in finding the problem: I had power at the starter and the fuseable link. I checked the continuity of the fuseable link, it was fine. I disconnected the black wire to the alternator and the fuseable link connector to measure the loop through impedance of the ammeter circuit. It looked good (close to zero ohms) at the microamp current that the ohmmeter uses to compute resistance. So, it couldn't be the main circuit through the ammeter, could it? I reconnected the fuseable link, then I measured the voltage on the wire to the alternator - should have been close to 12 volts, but it was 7.5V. Hmm. Something not right there. I then decided to pull the bulkhead connectors. On the firewall, the female connector pin 16, which is the return from the ammeter that goes directly to the alternator, was slighly blackened but not melted. A telltale sign. I took some emory paper and fished it in and out of the connector to sand away any oxide. Then I took a small, flat blade screwdriver, and pushed the contacts closer together from the walls of the bulkhead connector. Reconnected everything and voila,problem solved (temporarily).
In doing investigation on the issue, I have decided I am going to have to bypass the connectors in the firewall. Since I am restoring the car towards concours, I need to hide the connections while making the originals appear to still work. The other thing I am debating is weather or not to replace the ammeter with a voltmeter. There is a great conversion article online that talks about how to do it so that it still looks like the original ammeter, but without all the car's current flowing through the dash!
Here are two good discussions links:
Catalog
www.moparmotorhead.com/2015/10/plymouth-barracuda-ammeter-replacement.html
I hope that by posting this, I save someone else some grief on the same issue.
I now have the windshield pulled and am taking out the dash to do a complete overhaul of gauges, plus entire heating ventilating system. What fun!
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