Author Topic: One More 68 Electrical Challenge  (Read 10603 times)

ibrockn

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One More 68 Electrical Challenge
« on: April 12, 2006, 11:47:08 AM »
I'm surprised that I've received no replies to my "68 Signal Lights Not Working" question, but now I have another one...

The other day, I decided to drive my 68 to work and it quit on me a block away from home. I figured it was just a cold carburetor thing, but as it turns out, ALL electrical went dead.

Following some preliminary investigation, I discovered the dome light is out, the switch does nothing, the lights won't come on, and not a single fuse in the box is hot. Sounds easy, but then I found that the horn works, the battery lights my tester at the battery and at the starter. I've performed no other tests yet. I guess I'll start by testing the battery, but after that, I'm not sure where to go next.

Any ideas?

Thanks.
Timothy Meeks
Albuquerque, NM
« Last Edit: April 12, 2006, 11:50:03 AM by ibrockn »

DonSTP

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Re: One More 68 Electrical Challenge
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2006, 12:44:50 PM »
Timothy,

Sounds exactly like what happened to me.  See my post on "Voltage regulator not working properly? " 

Can you even turn the car over?  If not, you can try getting a jump and once the car is running you can measure voltage at the battery again.  If the battery's not taking a charge (also is the red BATT light illuminated in dashboard?) you can try replacing the voltage regulator.  They're pretty inexpensive to replace with newer solid state ($12 at AutoZone).  That's the cheapest replacement.  You can also pull the alternator and bring it to AutoZone and have it checked. 

If both are working properly then perhaps the battery is ready to be replaced.  If all the above checks out you've got something else going on in the wiring.

By the way, get yourself an actual meter.  The digital "ON / OFF" indication doesn't truly tell you what the voltage is and seeing the actual voltage when measuring is definitely helpful.

Good luck!

ibrockn

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Re: One More 68 Electrical Challenge
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2006, 03:36:21 AM »
Thanks for the suggestions. I should be able to work on this again this weekend and will post any new information I come up with.

JohnZ

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Re: One More 68 Electrical Challenge
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2006, 06:01:59 PM »
Sounds like you've got an open in the main power distribution circuit; not sure if '68 is like '69, but power is fed to the fuse block from the battery via a pigtail (from the + battery terminal) to a plastic junction block behind the battery, then from there to the horn relay, and from there via a big red wire into one of the multiple connectors on the engine compartment side of the fuse block. If the terminals in those connectors get corroded, resistance builds up (which creates heat), and the "big red wire" connection can go open due to partial melting/distortion of the cavity in the connector for that wire. I'd pull those connectors off and check the terminals for corrosion/misalignment.
'69 Z/28
Fathom Green
CRG

 

anything