Ammeter

[Ranger]

If I remember correctly, someone here mentioned something (since I've been here) about these things causing fires and I believe I may even have read about it somewhere else as well. Today I was at a Mopar meet (Mopar Happening) in Belvedere Ill. near the Chrysler plant. I talked to a guy who had one fail and fried his whole dash harness. Told me about a friend who lost the car to it. I think I'll bypass mine tomorrow.

 

[wagonman]

I just got done repairing and installing my dash harness. Sure enough the firewall plug was melted as the engine harness plug @ the amp meter wiring. Silly setup running ALL the power through that circuit. There is a thread on MOPARTS that deals with this issue. Basiclly leaving the gauge and routing the charging wire from the alt to the horn relay power feed wire. I could be wrong on that. Someone also makes a kit for this. I will be retrofitting mine. Just looked at my spare cluster and the Amp gauge is isolated. You can take the gauge out of the loop but all the current is still going through the harness. I will try and get some detailed info and get back to you.

 

[Big John]

Yeah, people that don't have a clue how the ammeter works will blame other problems on the ammeter. Like burning out a wire harness for example.... and they all have a cousin's brother in law's buddy that had a car catch fire...

If you want to bypass the ammeter because it can be a weak link, that's fine... just don't believe the bullshit.

 

[wagonman]

Check out MADD Electric. They have the kit. Anything that will drop the load on the harness like running a relay for headlites will help.

 

[Ranger]

So you guys are saying that the gauge is NOT the problem and bypassing it won't help? Or is there no real problem to begin with? I really wasn't looking forward to crawling under the dash again anyway. Maybe I'll just leave well enough alone and pray to the Plymouth Gods.

 

[Big John]

I just got done repairing and installing my dash harness. Sure enough the firewall plug was melted as the engine harness plug @ the amp meter wiring. Silly setup running ALL the power through that circuit. There is a thread on MOPARTS that deals with this issue. Basiclly leaving the gauge and routing the charging wire from the alt to the horn relay power feed wire. I could be wrong on that. Someone also makes a kit for this. I will be retrofitting mine. Just looked at my spare cluster and the Amp gauge is isolated. You can take the gauge out of the loop but all the current is still going through the harness. I will try and get some detailed info and get back to you.

This is a decent upgrade with a few important caveats. First, you want to connect to the starter relay, not the horn relay. Use a #10 wire and very importantly a #14 fusible link in the wire from the alternator output to the starter relay. This doesn't fully bypass the bulkhead connector, but the full amount of current does not pass through the connector. The bulkhead connector is the trouble spot, not the ammeter.

#14 fusible link!! Got that!!

 

[Big John]

So you guys are saying that the gauge is NOT the problem and bypassing it won't help? Or is there no real problem to begin with? I really wasn't looking forward to crawling under the dash again anyway. Maybe I'll just leave well enough alone and pray to the Plymouth Gods.

The gauge is not the problem.

There are sometimes issues with the bulkhead connector, but not the ammeter.

 

[Big John]

Oh... and a #14 fusible link.

 

[69hemibeep]

5....

 

[Ranger]

The gauge is not the problem.

There are sometimes issues with the bulkhead connector, but not the ammeter.

Well that's good to know. What should I look for to head it off?
I already had all three off when I was having the earlier electrical problems. I could pull and clean them again, spray them down with Deoxit and then add dielectric grease if you think that would be a good idea.
In all honesty, it would be nice (though not necessary) to leave the gauge functioning