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Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177234 01/04/09 10:10 AM 01/04/09 10:10 AM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 25,200 Upper Midwest M MoparforLife Too Many Posts
MoparforLife Too Many Posts M Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 25,200 Upper Midwest	The rear grounds need not be like the heavy neg battery cable. Usually just a braided strap wire. Clean it, if it's Dirty. Oil it, if it Squeaks. But: Don't fix it, if it Works!

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: RapidRobert] #177235 01/04/09 10:19 AM 01/04/09 10:19 AM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	Quote: Quote: Is this what all you guys go thru when you get one of these old cars going after 20+ years? before we had Moparts it was worse I can imagine Robert, you guys have certainly been my life line on this project. I am going out with my test light to try to find this electrical problem. I have plenty of juice in the battery. Where would you start looking for a failed component.

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177236 01/04/09 10:58 AM 01/04/09 10:58 AM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 25,200 Upper Midwest M MoparforLife Too Many Posts
MoparforLife Too Many Posts M Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 25,200 Upper Midwest	Make sure that the connections are clean and tight at the bulkhead connector. Recheck your battery terminals and connections. Just because the battery is new it doesn't mean it can't be bad or that the connections are good. did you scrape the factory protectant off the posts? did you scrape the cable ends clean and shiny before you put them on?ake sure that the cable were indeed tight on the posts and that you couldn't grab them with your hands and turn them? If they are not tight or the posts clam together tight without being real tight on the posts you can re pair this by taking the bolt out and clamping the the cable camp together with a vice or vice grips and running a hack saw through the split and then putting the bolt back in and it will tighten down tighter. Rechecking - starting at the battery is the first place I would look and work from there. Making sure all grounds are tight and clean and all connections tight. Clean it, if it's Dirty. Oil it, if it Squeaks. But: Don't fix it, if it Works!

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: MoparforLife] #177237 01/04/09 11:25 AM 01/04/09 11:25 AM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	Quote: Make sure that the connections are clean and tight at the bulkhead connector. Recheck your battery terminals and connections. Just because the battery is new it doesn't mean it can't be bad or that the connections are good. did you scrape the factory protectant off the posts? did you scrape the cable ends clean and shiny before you put them on?ake sure that the cable were indeed tight on the posts and that you couldn't grab them with your hands and turn them? If they are not tight or the posts clam together tight without being real tight on the posts you can re pair this by taking the bolt out and clamping the the cable camp together with a vice or vice grips and running a hack saw through the split and then putting the bolt back in and it will tighten down tighter. Rechecking - starting at the battery is the first place I would look and work from there. Making sure all grounds are tight and clean and all connections tight. Battery is good to go. clean, connections are tight and the test light is as bright as can be. I should start a new post as this is moving into a different area?...electrical. a good idea?

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177238 01/04/09 01:52 PM 01/04/09 01:52 PM
Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,679 Va. Beach, Va 69superbee383 master
69superbee383 master Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,679 Va. Beach, Va	I am going to dive in here and throw out something simple. I had a 73 Duster. Similar issue. Drive fine then for no reason the thing would start missing and everything would go nuts. What i found on this car was at the wire connector coming out of the steering column two of the wires inside the connector had fused together slightly. When hot they made contact and even when moved or if I hit a bump. I bypassed the connector on the two wires and solved the problem. Later I also found this had damaged the switch itself and I ended up replacing it and the connector. 77 Macho Power Wagon LWB factory 440 70 Coronet 440 N code 3 speed

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: 69superbee383] #177239 01/04/09 02:16 PM 01/04/09 02:16 PM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	Quote: I am going to dive in here and throw out something simple. I had a 73 Duster. Similar issue. Drive fine then for no reason the thing would start missing and everything would go nuts. What i found on this car was at the wire connector coming out of the steering column two of the wires inside the connector had fused together slightly. When hot they made contact and even when moved or if I hit a bump. I bypassed the connector on the two wires and solved the problem. Later I also found this had damaged the switch itself and I ended up replacing it and the connector. If you are talking about those two "thin banks" of wires that come out of the steering column.... I will go an examine them right now.

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177240 01/04/09 03:10 PM 01/04/09 03:10 PM
Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,679 Va. Beach, Va 69superbee383 master
69superbee383 master Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,679 Va. Beach, Va	yes at least on the 73 they were in a white connector I believe 8 wires. The black and one other had melted the connector into each other. Been many years but that thing gave me fits. 77 Macho Power Wagon LWB factory 440 70 Coronet 440 N code 3 speed

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177241 01/04/09 03:39 PM 01/04/09 03:39 PM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 1,279 Buzzardbreath Wyoming B BigBird pro stock
BigBird pro stock B Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 1,279 Buzzardbreath Wyoming	Quote: Just curious. Is this what all you guys go thru when you get one of these old cars going after 20+ years? Yep.... I spent 3 days tracing wires to finally figure it was a shorted bulb in the tail light.

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: MoparforLife] #177242 01/04/09 04:51 PM 01/04/09 04:51 PM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	Quote: either will work on the key. Would like to see a good ground from a head or rear of engine to the fire wall. Should have had one in original state. OK fellas....I don't understand why this is happening at all. Tutor me on this grounding sitation. I took my test light and read every hot lead in the car. All good to go. I kept watching the dome light to see if it would come on. It did not. I then added the additional ground strap from the head to the firewall. when I did this all systems lit up like a Christmas tree. Dome light came on. Key in buzzer started screaming and the motor fired right up. I disconnected the strap to see what it would do...it ran for a about 40 seconds and just conked out. Dead. Hooked the strap back up and everything works fine What in the world is going on here? Why would it run for 70 miles or so since the initial start up....then just quit? I can't believe this may be all this whole she-bang is all about. A ground wire?

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177243 01/04/09 05:04 PM 01/04/09 05:04 PM
Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,679 Va. Beach, Va 69superbee383 master
69superbee383 master Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,679 Va. Beach, Va	Oh yes it can cause all that. Without a good ground things try to find their own ground. I had a simple ground wire from the battery to the radiator support come loose and had all sorts of weird stuff. Broke the wire from the head to the firewall once and when the clutch was depressed all was good. let the clutch out and lost everything. 77 Macho Power Wagon LWB factory 440 70 Coronet 440 N code 3 speed

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: 69superbee383] #177244 01/04/09 05:07 PM 01/04/09 05:07 PM
Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,679 Va. Beach, Va 69superbee383 master
69superbee383 master Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,679 Va. Beach, Va	While you are at it check your battery ground to block connection and the ground wire to the support bracket. Make sure they are clean and tight. 77 Macho Power Wagon LWB factory 440 70 Coronet 440 N code 3 speed

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: 69superbee383] #177245 01/04/09 05:13 PM 01/04/09 05:13 PM
Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska R RapidRobert Circle Track
RapidRobert Circle Track R Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska	we sure didn't k.i.s.s. on this one did we live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: RapidRobert] #177246 01/04/09 07:15 PM 01/04/09 07:15 PM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 25,200 Upper Midwest M MoparforLife Too Many Posts
MoparforLife Too Many Posts M Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 25,200 Upper Midwest	Just because you have the battery grounded to the engine does not mean that the engine is grounded to the body. The engine is mounted in rubber insulators and so is the transmission. The driveshaft which may or may not make contact through the oil in the tailshaft goes to the rear end which is also mounted to the springs which in turn are insulated from the body. So grounding the battery to the engine is not grounding the battery to the rest of the car or to the ignition power sources. The battery power is routed to the dash and then fed back to the rest of the electrical system. Therefore the body rounds to complete the circuit. Hope this makes sense to you. It is hard for me to explain in print.

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: MoparforLife] #177247 01/04/09 07:51 PM 01/04/09 07:51 PM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	I just came back from an extended run around the neighborhood. She seems to run better than it ever has. The dash lights are much brighter. The temp gauge is @ about 50%. The oil gauge is @ 50% or a touch higher. The Amp gauge is is calm and functioning well. The curb idle is steady and strong. The whole car is very different from when I first started it back in August. I learned many things in the last weeks. #1) To not panic #2) That someone else has already been there, done that. #3) How to use and understand what a compression gauge does and why #4) To gather as many clues as possible, however small, when conversing with you members on an issue. As I move forward I will have many more posts w/ questions but for now will close this thread. I can't thank all of you enough for your close support and patience while this rookie works his way through. I will catch you chaps down the road but for now...(Dan)....My family and I are going to get ice cream cones...and thanks to all of you...I'm just in time. Mike

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177248 01/04/09 09:55 PM 01/04/09 09:55 PM
Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,679 Va. Beach, Va 69superbee383 master
69superbee383 master Joined: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,679 Va. Beach, Va	Dont worry the neat thing about these cars is the joy of tracking down that problem after all that hard work and the knowledge that soon you will be doing the same thing again only with a different part of the car. It is great fun. 77 Macho Power Wagon LWB factory 440 70 Coronet 440 N code 3 speed

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: 69superbee383] #177249 01/04/09 10:52 PM 01/04/09 10:52 PM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	you are right about that...but stand by...I'm going to change the differential from the 3.91 that's in it to 3.23 or 2.94. The 3.91's are more than I bargained for..more questions will surely be coming your way so please, don't go far. and Don, I apologize for the miss-spelling. and yes...we all had a great ride to the ice cream store...the negative thing my girls pointed out was the car was "stinky"....but they thought the window cranks were a hoot, didn't understand why anyone would put an ashtray in the back seat armrest, and where is the cd player. but we'll leave that post "how to tighten up the exhaust so it's not "stinky" anymore in the cabin to another day. Cheers men and thanks again Mike

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