deathbound Posted July 22, 2011 Report Posted July 22, 2011 I was troubleshooting my electrical today-checking for power to the taillights. I had power to the all 3 terminals(1 from the starter, 1 to the ignition, & 1 to the stock headlight switch & brake switch) of the volt meter(stock volt meter in the stock cluster). I had power to the light switch & brake light switch. I had my test light in the engine compartment checking for power to the regulator & got distracted with my son & touched the test light to the ARM & FLD terminals, besides the BAT terminal. Now I don't have power to the terminal on the volt meter that has the wires that feed the headlight & brake switches. Also, while I still had power to the volt meter terminal, I accidentally grounded the wire from the volt meter to brake switch. My question is...could either of these 2 things cause me to loose power to the volt meter terminal-which in turn, loose power to the headlight & brake switches? Car is a 1938 Plymouth P6, stock wiring in good condition, car was converted to 12volt neg ground, stock gauge cluster. Hope this isn't too confusing-just trying not to leave anything out. Thanks in advance. Quote
LAKOTA169 Posted July 22, 2011 Report Posted July 22, 2011 Is it a volt meter or Amp meter? my stock '37 has an Ammeter and it has a fuse mounted to it. Quote
Robert Horne Posted July 22, 2011 Report Posted July 22, 2011 My 38 headlight switch has a fuse across it also. About everything seems to connect to the amp gauge on these 38s. Quote
deathbound Posted July 22, 2011 Author Report Posted July 22, 2011 (edited) Is it a volt meter or Amp meter? my stock '37 has an Ammeter and it has a fuse mounted to it. It is an amp gauge & has a SFE 30 amp fuse(tested good w/an ohmmeter)-brain fart. My 38 headlight switch has a fuse across it also. About everything seems to connect to the amp gauge on these 38s. Is the fuse the strip between the 2 terminals? Edited July 23, 2011 by deathbound Quote
deathbound Posted July 22, 2011 Author Report Posted July 22, 2011 Maybe this will help a little. Thanks Bob, I have the same book & one of the laminated color schematics also. I believe it's wired properly, had power to the ammeter terminal that the switches attach to, then accidentally grounded the wire from the ammeter to the brake switch & also accidentally put my test light that was grounded on the ARM & FLD terminals of the regulator, then no power to the switches???? Quote
Robert Horne Posted July 22, 2011 Report Posted July 22, 2011 You may have burnt a wire. My headlight switch has the small glass fuse mounted on the top of the switch. Once my headlight dimmer switch, that is in the floor, burnt a wire, did not blow the fuse though. Carpet got shinged. hot foot,,,hot foot,, Quote
deathbound Posted July 23, 2011 Author Report Posted July 23, 2011 So, there are 3 terminals on the back of the stock amp gauge. 1 that has the wire from the starter(hot-checked w/a test light), 1 that has a wire that goes to the volt reg(hot-checked with a test light), & 1 that feeds the switches/accessories(not hot-checked w/a test light). At on time, all 3 were hot, now just 2???? Could there possibly be a short in the amp gauge-not sure of the internal workings???? Thanks Quote
deathbound Posted July 25, 2011 Author Report Posted July 25, 2011 Got power to the 3rd terminal of the amp gauge(accessories).....dirty contacts on each of the 2 parts of the fuse holder. Should've checked, lesson learned. Thanks to those who replied. Quote
RobertKB Posted July 26, 2011 Report Posted July 26, 2011 Thanks for letting us know what the solution was. It is always nice when a thread is ended this way so others can learn from your experience. Quote
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