i am NOT a fan of those battery terminals that just sandwich the cable between a strap and the terminal. they promote corrosion to wick into the cable, plus only provide connection [properly] to the top and bottom of the cable. you need to source a crimp style, solder style, or a furl style set of terminal ends, then protect the connection with a good quality heat shrink, preferably the marine grade with the built in "sealant". plus, in doing so, it will look more professional. just my opinion, but nothing bothers me more than seeing those cheap battery terminals on an otherwise super nice engine bay. i have cured many an electrical gremlin by replacing that kind of terminal in my 50+ years of playing with cars.

Updated the probably route of short.

Wires can oxidize and even corrode under the insulation. My guess is this happens due to moisture wicking along the strands under certain conditions. Electricity travels on the surface of the wires so oxidation and breakdown on the surface would cause resistance to flow.

You problem is not oxidation or corrosion.

That would cause a localized overheating problem.

It's a short.

Find the short.

The big bulkhead connector has the female terminals. They are released with a small flat tool. I've used cotter pins, small screw drivers and finally bought the correct tool.

Again borrowed from the Civilian Jeep forum..
This shows the locking tab that must be released.


This shows the tool in action:


I have the multi-tool shown in that picture. Disadvantage over a single prong tool is that the extra prongs sometimes get in the way. My '67 bulkhead is a little different but similar enough I think the double prong gets in the way with the bulkead.

These came from Basic Wiring 101 page 1.
If you go there and have a slow connection, just know that site has lots of ads etc. No-script is one way to minimize the extra graphic downloads.
CJ wiring is a little different than SJs and our mopars so you can skip the CJ specific stuff. He mentions Packard 59 connectors for the bulkheads. I don't know if that applies to any of our mopars, but if you see slightly larger terminals, then that's what they are.

Nacho suggested an alternative to butt connector splice is crimping two wires onto the ammeters ring terminal. This avoids extra connections. Done properly, it will look like this.

At least on my '67 Barracuda, that's how Chrysler joined the voltage regulator wire to the Ignition Run wire at the ballast resistor.
To do this will require an ring terminal (for the ammeter) with large enough wire capacity. If you have trouble doing this well, then butt connector is better. Basically, use whatever method you can accomplish that provides good a connection. Every connection is location for problems, so generally the strategy is to minimize connections. But one bad connection is worse than two good ones.

Yes. That is the source of the problem. I should have made those ? bigger. Whether its chafed insulation on a wire or internal to something, somewhere was a path to ground. Electricity is always seeking to find a way to lower voltage.

With respect to the alternator output that Nacho mentioned. This may or may not be a longer term issue depending on how you use the car. The ammeter will show whether the alternator is providing sufficient power at idle. If you drive a lot in situations where the car is idling at lights on, or with AC, or heater fan runnng, that's when the situation he was describing most commonly happens.

X3, we need to find the smoking gun here.

amazed how it took so long to burnt giving time to burn the ammeter wires



yes that's my advice, using or not the original ammeter paths through the bulkhead

Mattax already explained how to remove the terminals, but destroy the old bulkhead is an option too LOL... maybe faster and won't be dealing with the tabs, being still on original angle to get them inserted on the new one.

Terminals can be cleaned from grease and then soak them on a vinegar and salt solution for couple of hours. Then clean and soak in again on baking soda to eliminate the acids of the vinegar. This will clean the sulfating areas and rust

As explained before, you can reuse your old engine and forward lighting harnesses plugs if you won't be reinstalling the original ammeter paths running through the bulkhead.

If you will reinstall the original paths, will need the engine harness plug and mostly sure the forward lighting one too.

agreed... find the short, but can be found after the wiring fixing just not hooking the batt after the fix, but making an ohm testing to ground on these wiring net

aaand, well, I'm looking forward on the alt upgrade as Mattax mentioned to be safe on regular use with the equipment on car

Mattax made the draw splicing the alt wire out of the bulkhead straight to the splice section, then an extra splice from there up to amm. If running the wire out of bulkhead ( not making a stock disposition ) I'd just make one splice between main splice and amm, and run the alt wire straight to the amm. This will save the batt recharge load from run through three splices on its run, will go straight through the ammeter... but, that's me.

( although the main one original wasn't a splice but actually a one piece run with peleed of cover and spliced the rest on it )

you can also disassembly the main splice and run the straight wire, peel off the wire without cut and attach the headlights ( black traced ), fuse box and ign switch ( Red ones ) from the existant splice into a brand new splice like factory did

Ok, I have most of the dash wires buttoned up and fixed. The ammeter wires are attached but obviously not to the bulkhead connector.

Could a short on the engine side of the harness cause this kind of short? If so, wouldn't the black wire to the alternator be cooked as well? Are we guessing the short is on the engine side?

I am trying to figure out what my next step would be. As far as tracing wires for a short. I will use my test light, hook up the battery ground and my light to positive and start tracing from my "battery stud" under the hood back.

Looks to me in your pictures that the black wire is melted too, it may not be melted all the way back to the alternator, but that wire is not hooked only to the alternator It feeds the fusebox as well.

In order for it to melt the current had to flow thru it, so yeah, your problem is somewhere on the engine side of the ammeter, assuming stock wiring setup.

There are people waaay smarter than me responding to this post, if I'm wrong maybe someone will correct me... but a method I have used to chase shorts is to disconnect the positive battery terminal and hook the test light clamp to the cable then touch the positive post with the test light probe (with the key off, doors shut, trunk shut, in other words, anything that would draw power has to be de-energized) if the test light illuminates you still have a short somewhere, for fused shorts I remove fuses one at a time until the test light no longer illuminates, thus at least isolating the system with the short, in your case I would leave the positive cable disconnected and hook up the wires in the engine compartment, hook the test light clamp to the positive cable then touch the positive post of the battery with the test light probe if it illuminates you still have a short, then one at a time disconnect the wires you just connected in the engine compartment until the test light goes out. Hope this helps.

Ok, I am making little progress. thanks for your patience everyone, seriously I appreciate it.

So this is where I am. My battery is in the trunk, and I didn't want to drag wires to the front of the car, so I got a lawnmower battery and placed up front on the radiator support. I hooked jumper cable (negative) and clamped the other end of the cable (negative) to a bolt holding the radiator.

positive side got the test light, but now.....naturally anywhere I touch on the engine block or frame.....the light turns on.

At first I got excited because it lit up with the starter wire from the relay.....until I realized it was just completing the circuit through the engine block, starter wire, back to the starter relay.

The key is to just trace and check the WIRES and see if they light up, correct?

If I'm thinking right...with the positive cable disconnected from the battery the test light should be between the positive cable and the positive post, everything should be de-energized...the light should not come on, if it does disconnect one wire at a time until it goes out, when the light goes out that would indicate your power drain/shorted circuit.

Are you talking about disconnecting one wire at a time along the wire harness? Here is where I am. The engine side harness is not connected to the firewall bulkhead at all, yet I am getting light when probing the ballast resistor, the horns and the alternator wire. I disconnected them from the actual devices to so the power is through the wires.

I also probed the bulkhead for kicks and giggles and have SEVERAL that light up.

EDIT and UPDATE: Started checking wires from the furthest away from the firewall and started probing. Horn wires lit up, alternator wires lit up, etc.

Long story short. One little wire from my tachometer had burned through and was exposed against the intake manifold. this is connected to the coil which was lighting up. Short story: Tachometer is now gone. I have been meaning to do that for a while anyway.

However, a wire to the distributor still lights up. See picture. The female end that connects to the ignition control box on the firewall.

The ignition control module on the firewall.

When removed, the pin indicated still lights up. Perhaps this is a ground and is supposed to light up for this test?

Ignition control module removed and visually inspected. Looks good initially, back is not melted or bubbled like it got hot. I have had several of these fail over the years.

now the voltage regulator. There is a pin that I am getting a weak light from. Perhaps this is also a ground and is supposed to light up for this test?

Here is my voltage regulator test. I think it is shot, reading only 0.55 ohms. I think normal is 1.75 ish? The other picture is the back side which appears it got a little hot and bubbly?

Could this be part of the smoking gun?

It sounds like you are checking for wire continuity. Really what you want to look for is short to ground. I did explain that (or tried) on the previous page https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbt...tml#Post2365540 but that assumed a self powered light.
So one lead on the Battery Plus, Other lead on the Alternator Bat terminal.*
I beleive that's about all that can be tested until repairs are made.

As far as the various wires go, even when everything is perfect some will show continuity and some won't. It depends on whether they are switched or not. Download the shop manual and if its easier, start with Nacho's or my '67 diagram. Draw in or erase whatever is different.

Since you have some modified stuff there, such as the Chrysler electronic ignition, you can draw that in too. If its too messy or confusing, drawing the ignition circuit seperate from the charging circuit. That's why my posted '67 diagram shows points. I have a seperate diagram for the ignition circuit with the modifications I made for the MSD 6T.

This will help both trouble shoot and making repairs. After all, why is that terminal holder empty (20). What is the blue wire with trace? What is the heavy pink wire with trace?
For chasing questions about whether something should light up, the diagram will show what circuits are from the main junction, and which ones are only on when ignition switch is in start, run, or accessory. Most will have fuses. A few won't but have circuit breakers.


*edit: Gosh since you have a multimeter, just use that. There should be infinite resistance between alternator output (Bat) and ground.