Coincidence: heating problems and electrical problems???

[ttraut@unlockit]

Several weeks ago my 383 in my 69RR started overheating -- actually wildy fluctuating; it's always run cool before. I replaced the radiator, flushed (and reverse flushed) the water jacket, and put in a 160 Stant thermostat. It still ran warm but consistent...

...until today.

Today I smelled a slight burning odor (wires) and the temperature guage would run from hot to bury-the-needle-past-the-H hot. And my ammeter indicated fully charging (no bouncing as it did before).

Then all of a sudden, the ammeter showed NO charging (although I could get the ammeter to show discharge by turning on the headlights). My turn signals and horn don't work (even with the car running) and my battery's dead.

So: are the two issues -- overheating and electrical -- related? I'm scratching my head since I can't figure out how they would be unless something's shorting my alternator out which may be connected to my temperature sensor by the water pump. Maybe that's causing a false high temperature reading (the engine doesn't FEEL hot but I haven't actually run an independent test with a candy thermometer).

The car seems to have always had some electrical problems but they've been minor -- a bad ground in the turn signal, for example.

HELP!!!!!

Terry

[GaryS]

Sounds like your voltage limiter burned up. It's a small can that plugs into the back of your instrument panel circuit board.

[1972roadrunner]

the electrical problem is probably the "overheating" problem. sounds to me that the guage has been malfunctioning...

i have never trusted my electrical guages, except for my tach, its aftermarket....and my dads old racing tach.... i don't even trust my gas guage anymore, i just fill up every weekend... if it were me, i would go with mechanical guages for the oil psi, and water temp.

[ehostler]

If it went past the H, then you have a short in the wiring, for the temp. The alt is not on the same circuit. Based on your description, I would pull the instrument cluster and start inspecting the wires, as it sounds like something has grounded. Check the bulkhead connector real well, as you may find that it started melting.

[1972roadrunner]

i just remembered, the wire that went to my original clock from the factory amp guage was live, bare, and very brittle... i'm guessing the clock grounded somehow at one point.... does your car have an original clock in it? if so, does it work?

i agree with eholster, pull the instrunment panel and check all the wires...

good luck!

[ttraut@unlockit]

Thanks, you guys. I started suspecting the instrument panel.

No, I don't have a clock.

One part of the problem that you guys didn't address is the fact that my battery's now dead. How might that fit into the equation? And that my electrical components -- horn and blinkers -- don't work (well actually the horn DOES give a barely audible "baaaaaaaa") when the car's running.

I'm going to get into this more next week and will definitely augment the guages with aftermarket guages (I've already done the oil guage....).

Any additional insights?

Terry

[1972roadrunner]

either overcharged, or not charged at all... i would try a new alt. and a new voltage regulator... i actually carry a spare regulator with me, just in case...

did the battery boil over? open the caps, does it have acid inside? do the sides bulge out? i had that happen to a POS battery.... alt. was overcharging the battery and everything else...blew all 4 headlights, 2 tail light bulbs, and the battery boiled over, then the sides bulged out... i fixed that problem with a new altenator, regulator, and put a semi battery in it... 1132 cranking amps @ 32*F now i just worry about my starter...

[6 packin]

For engine cooling problems, I would ditch the 160 stat. Because once your engine reaches 160 and above the stat stays open constantly. Like not have a stat at all. Which sucks because it needs to hold a certain amount of water for a paticular time in the radiator so it can cool properly, once cooled the water in the engine is now hot and, thus switches place and starts all over again. But if your stat is open all the time, it might seem to run cooler at first but once the water temp gets to high it cant be cooled because there is no restriction on flow! So I would ditch the 160 stat. Go to Autozone get a Robertsshaw 185 or 190 stat these stats are better than your factory or replacement stats. Look at them and compare the opening. These are only avaliable at Autozone, I dont think Advance carries Robert Shaw Stats!
Hope I could Help!

[72Challenger]

The fact that your battery is dead is just more evidence that you have an electrical problem. Don't try to fix this problem by throwing money at it! No reason to buy any parts until you've found the source of the problem. And the that source will no doubt turn out to be a short somewhere. Until you fix that, you'll just burn up any new parts you install.

I agree that you don't have a cooling problem.

[The Dartman]

Ah haaa!! My RV mechanic days are finally coming into play!!

You may have 12 volt draw, either from a faulty instrument or other 12 volt appliance (appliance?) or a direct short to ground. You can easily find this by turning off everything in the car (unless you've got a crappy clock), and disconnecting the negative side of the battery. Take a standard 12 volt test light and place it between the post and the cable. If it lights up, there is either a direct short or other problem in your car. Here's the cool part: remove each of your fuses one at a time until the light goes away. Once the light has gone away, decipher through a owners manual or other resource to determine what the fuse powered. Once you narrow it down to this, you can start poking around at least in the general location of the failure. I definitely wouldn't pull the instrument cluster unless I had to though!! These are a bearcat to get in and out, and usually something breaks getting it back in. I have pulled the panel out of two A bodies, and both have a headlight switch that pops off into your hand fairly easily after the instrument panel came out and back in. I would guess something under hood or in the trunk myself, since both of these areas have a lot of moisture, and a fair amount of rust. The bulkhead comes to mind as being a possible source too.

One other thing to think of (after the bulkhead line above). I had a bare wire situation in my Dart Sport that caused the fusuble link to partially burn up. The battery was charged fully, but the car had some funny syptoms like you mention above. I assume that the burned up fusible link wasn't providing the rest of the car with all of hte "juice" it needed. I replaced the fusible link and all of the interior accesories and gauges started working fine.

Good luck!!
Dartman

[ttraut@unlockit]

Dartman and others,

Just got back from Carlisle at midnight last night; thanks for the suggestions waiting for me.

Dartman, thanks for the step-by-step procedure on problem-solving. Electrical problems make my eyes roll to the back of my head since I never know how to start. (It took me a week to find out that I had the wrong bulb in one of my front turn signals once!)

I'll try out your suggestions this week and reply with what I find.

Terry

[Doug Wilson]

Dartman - your post goes into my "Troubleshooting" archives. Thanks a lot - what great advice!!

[prostreetchallenger]

dartman that was great info. thanks alot.