Cold Blue Posted March 9, 2019 Report Share Posted March 9, 2019 Found a loose wire. Do not know where it connects or if it should connect somewhere...I am a rank amateur at electrical stuff. My car has been converted to 12 volts. The wire is connected to the little black plastic box above the starter relay. It's the red wire with the broken connector on it's end, as shown in the photo, draped across the top of the relay. One post of the relay doesn't have anything connected to it. I loosened the nut on that post, and the post just spins around loosely! And there was no broken connector piece under the nut. That is the only thing in the vicinity that the loose wire could connect to, it looks like, if it is supposed to connect to anything. Ya'lls help sure would be appreciated. I am finishing up things under the hood, and noticed the disconnected wire. I have not tried to start the engine yet. Many thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ194950 Posted March 9, 2019 Report Share Posted March 9, 2019 Well it is a add on relay for some function. Cannot tell. It is intended to used to boost voltage to something. Trace one of those green wires either back to the source (one way) or follow to what the other green wire is connected to. Horns/lights/whatever. Then we may have a clue to try to help. Another question.?? Where does the red wire in the picture that goes from one of the plug in terminal of the 4 shown on the bottom of the relay to over the top of the relay- the other end cannot be seen in the picture- is it plugged into something?? DJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Blue Posted March 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 25 minutes ago, DJ194950 said: Well it is a add on relay for some function. Cannot tell. It is intended to used to boost voltage to something. Trace one of those green wires either back to the source (one way) or follow to what the other green wire is connected to. Horns/lights/whatever. Then we may have a clue to try to help. Another question.?? Where does the red wire in the picture that goes from one of the plug in terminal of the 4 shown on the bottom of the relay to over the top of the relay- the other end cannot be seen in the picture- is it plugged into something?? DJ I traced one of the green wires - it goes to the headlights. The red wire that goes over the top of the relay (the one with the blue connector cover on its end) is a ground wire screwed into the metal fender. In the picture it looks like it is plugged into that little black plastic box on the opposite side, but its not, its a ground. I think that the loose red wire is not used for anything....I am replacing the fan belt right now. Soon as I get that done I am gonna start her...if she fires, that'll tell me if that loose wire is a concern, or not....hope I don't fry something... Question - that empty terminal on the starter relay has the letter "I" stamped above it, the other terminal (with the purple wire) has an "S" stamped above it. "S" stands for starter, I guess, but what does the "I" stand for? Thanks in advance...Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Elder Posted March 10, 2019 Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 I for ign....? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ194950 Posted March 10, 2019 Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 Well the starter big black relay is is from a Furd. No preblem though. It's the "I" post is meant to be a bypass full voltage boost for starting only that bypasses the voltage drop resistor to the coil. Not used on most Mopars. Use it or Not. No worries. The currently loose wire (red) should NOT be a problem with anything. Headlights most likely no be working. Issues to deal with later. Worried?? unplug the green the green wires also for now while taking note of the current orientation. That can be sorted out later! Good luck with the motor startup! DJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Blue Posted March 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 10 minutes ago, DJ194950 said: Well the starter big black relay is is from a Furd. No preblem though. It's the "I" post is meant to be a bypass full voltage boost for starting only that bypasses the voltage drop resistor to the coil. Not used on most Mopars. Use it or Not. No worries. The currently loose wire (red) should NOT be a problem with anything. Headlights most likely no be working. Issues to deal with later. Worried?? unplug the green the green wires also for now while taking note of the current orientation. That can be sorted out later! Good luck with the motor startup! DJ Cool!! Thanks so much! I just got the fan belt on - will crank her up first thing in the morning. Right now it's storming here in Tennessee. Tornado warnings right over where I live.. Just blew thru like a hurricane- lots of rain and wind. Looking much better now. Thanks again for the great advice! Blue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merle Coggins Posted March 10, 2019 Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 (edited) That loose red wire appears to be going to the 30 terminal of the relay. This would be the power feed to the switch part of the relay. The light green wire coming off the middle-front terminal would be the 87 terminal, or Normally Open contact of the switch, which would get powered up from that red wire when the relay is activated. You say one terminal has no wire... That is likely the center terminal, or the 87a, which is the Normally Closed contact of the switch. This would have power from the 30 terminal until the relay gets activated, then the power would go away. The short red wire going to the mounting screw is the ground for the coil part of the relay, and the light green on the bottom, opposite the ground wire, is the activation wire for the coil. (85 and 86 respectively) So, as stated earlier, the light green wires are the key to what this relay is for. If one goes to the headlight and the other to the headlight switch, then someone added the relay to take the amperage load off of the switch. Either way, to make it function that loose red wire needs to be connected to a voltage source. It was most likely connected to the battery side of the starter relay. I would recommend adding a fuse to that wire when reconnecting it, to protect the circuit. Just a side note, but I wouldn’t use red wires for grounds. Red wires typically signify a hot wire, and black is typically used for grounds. I see there is another red ground wire attached at the top right corner of the picture. Edited March 10, 2019 by Merle Coggins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted March 10, 2019 Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 Terminal 1 power from the battery hot all the time. Terminal 2 hot only when the starter button is pushed and this sends power to terminals 3 and 4. Terminal 3 when hot sends power to the distributor by passing the resistor for a full 12 volts at start up. Terminal 4 when hot spins the starter motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted March 10, 2019 Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Blue Posted March 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 Thanks everyone! I am going to investigate this further...but the real proof is when I hit that starter button and she fires up...hopefully. I got this car already converted to 12 volts, and whoever wired it paid little attention to red means hot and black means ground...makes it interesting when you are trying to figure out the circuitry... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Blue Posted March 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 40 minutes ago, Cold Blue said: Thanks everyone! I am going to investigate this further...but the real proof is when I hit that starter button and she fires up...hopefully. I got this car already converted to 12 volts, and whoever wired it paid little attention to red means hot and black means ground...makes it interesting when you are trying to figure out the circuitry... Well boys - looks like dj194950 had it right. She fired right up with the loose red wire connected to nothing. All the lights work as they should. And with an adjustment to the new throttle linkage to get her idling right (I knew that was going to be) in conjunction with the new front motor mount, she is purring like a top!!! Never sounded sweeter. Thanks to everyone for the great responses! Now for some new radial tires... and a front end alignment...... and repairing the original radio, and...and.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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