I have a 72 /6 gold duster that i just bought off this guy whos kid hacked a lot of stuff up like the radio is cut out and a sound system was spliced in!!, but on the outside wiring harness where the wire from the battery goes into the firewall, he put in an aftermarket fuseable link.. when the car warms up and i put it in reverse the 30amp fuse blows giving me no power anywhere!!!!! now it just started doing it in drive too. when i slow down to stop, the car sound like its going to stall.. the idle is a little high, but low idle fluctuates and if it does stall.. the fuse blows !!.. WHY DOES THE FUSE KEEP BLOWING?!?!

linkage coming incontact and grounding out?.Does battery go dead when car just sits

it sat all last night and battery was still good wneh i put a new fuse in it.. but they keep blowing.. out.. im about to just put a wire where the link is haha

Keep the fuse in the circuit, buy a box of fuses and start disconnecting the hacked wiring until the problem goes away. I would start looking for a new under dash harness on eBay or www.wildcatmopars.com. Same thing for the engine harness if it's hacked. Another option is a universal after market harness.

Get rid of those cheap fuses that keep blowing, splice in a heavy guage wire and buy yourself a fire extinguisher.

Is it a column car where maybe battery cable.Is contacting linkage underhood

You need a fusible link not a fuse in the main circuit. Fusible links are slow blow for a reason. Fuses blow fast when spiked.

yea i wouldnt just put a cable between it..not good.. but heres a new update, Reverse lights do not come on!! and bulbs are new... i put a manual choke on and before i shift i open it a little to drop the idle and it shifts into reverse or drive with no fuses blown.. but if the idle is any higher bam.. it blows!! the wiring everywhere else looks fine and the only bad is whats on the outside of the firewall ill have pics soon i'm going over to my buddys mopar yard and cutting out the correct wire on the scamp.. now why is there nothing going to the bulbs

Have you checked the neutral saftey swith wiring to see if it's shorted? The two outside wires on the plug are in and out for power to the backup lights in reverse.

Your dealng with 40 year old wiring, that's been hacked on over the years,....why bother!,....just replace everything with new harnesses available from Year One/M&H wiring,.....peace of mine,trouble free from nightmare wiring gremlins

heres a stupid question... wheres the Neutral Safety Switch.. and a new harness is being ordered but im trying to get it running before the weekend.. i also have a new dash thats going in too but wanted the new harness put in when i get the other one out

The neutral safety switch is threaded into the left side of the transmission case .Has a rubber boot with a 3 pin connector

I looked even closer at the front hack job, and noticed that he had the after market fuse link thing actually spliced onto the fusible link
!!! so i took the fusible link off the scamp and put it on... no lost power but when it goes in drive or reverse it almost stalls or stalls. air fuel mixture?! and reverse lights still dont work BUT when it stalls i have to put it in nuetral to start it.... NSS must be bad!! thanks for all your help!.. elctrical is not my thing, but easier than i thought... so simple but its hair pullin when the littlest thing goes wrong especially when a 15 year old HAD to put a sound system in it!! heres what it looked like...

Did he put in a fusible link or just wire in a 30 amp fuse socket?

BUT when it stalls i have to put it in nuetral to start it.... NSS must be bad!!

No, that's how it's supposed to work! Only starts in park or neutral.

Does the motor shift a lot in reverse? Is the carb loose?

theres a fusible link AND a 30amp fuse socket! ... and when the car stalls it wont start in park, but will nuetral. the carb is tighten down good! looks like the original bottom half of the fusible link rotted out by the fire wall so he put a 30amp fuse as the bottom half of the fusible link...it doesnt make sense!! but i took it out and put another bottom part of a fusible link in and i havnt lost power or anything, but when shifting to reverse it still may stall unless i have my foot on the gas ever so slightly ... it almost sounds like its got a mild cam ha but really the low idle is too low and the regular idle is a little above the norm..

Put a real fusible link in. car ran fine until shifted into second gear and alternat. went wild and the link melted.

- Make sure shift linkage isn't rubbing on NSS harness if you haven't already

- Verify NSS is hooked up properly under the hood

- At this point I would just unplug NSS harness from the trans , pull it up into the engine compartment and isolate it from any metal.

!!!!MAKE SURE CAR IS IN PARK!!! Then jump the start solenoid and fire up the car.

Hop in and run it thru the gears and see what happens.

Try richening the idle mixture if it stalls when you put it in gear.

I have a new NSS i got from a buddy still in the box, i looking at the harness.. it looks good.. BUT i didnt pull it off yet, at the time i was noticing the snapped Speedo cable and just replaced it... But if the NSS harness is good, where do i look next?! Yes the car is 38 years old, but its a southern car and a lot of stuff on it is like new, plus the low miles help,.. The Car is tuned Great now, doesnt stall or blow the fuse in reverse ever since the fusible link blew, and shifting into the gears while not moving, it doesnt blow a fuse, instead it does it while driving when RPM have a dramatic change, then like i said the alt. meter goes Frantic and the fuse blows... i must say , i have never seen a fusible link go so quick!!! it drove fine for about 8 miles.. i guess the NSS has to be looked over thouroughly to really know:/ After a fuse blows or the F.L. blew, it WILL NOT start in park just Neutral

You can chase gremlins, or you can fix it the right way. If you have the bucks you can replace everything. If you want to learn something and can work methodically then get a factory service manual, some good wire, tape, an ohm meter, solder and soldering gun and learn how to fix it yourself. Electrical work is a lot like plumbing, and the wiring diagrams in the FSM have never let me down.
You got a dead short dealing with the NSS wiring. I've seen factory shift linkages chafe and cut into the wiring before. Also have fixed my share of hack jobs, both under the dash and under the hood. If you have the patience to go one wire at a time, you can fix that old harness.

Sounds like an intermittent dead short putting full load on the alternator and stalling the motor, maybe start unhooking unecesary things like horn, heater, etc one at a time until the problem goes away. Have you swapped alternators yet, or had it tested?

The Alt. tested good.. i thought that in the beginning.. heres something tho.. the Horn does NOT work on the harness connections!!! he put an aftermarket steering wheel in and i cant even get it to work by touchin the wire to metal, but i noticed he had a seperate horn button and wiring attached to another 30 amp fuse which went to the battery.. tells me he had an electrical problem before! rear wiring harness has some sort of relay with cut wires on it.. not factory!! looks like he made a third brake light at one point.

This is a learning experience.. cuz even a new harness could have these issues, i have a new dash harness on order, but would like to try and get it up and runnin safely knowing i did it myself.. sounds weird but i like getting my old mopars needing work cuz i feel like i know the car more when i get in there and see everything first hand.. the new harness will be going in as soon as i get it, tho i still want to solve this Duster Gremlin i always see come back in different forms!

FOUND THE GREMLIN!!!! the wiring harness hat wraps around the valve cover to the alternator was hitting the block which melted the ground cable just enough to expose the wires. i was tracing the NSS harness and hit the alt. ground when i heard a ZAP!!! ... fuse blew, spliced and taped new wire in and now.. it goes into reverse, no stall, no fuse blown, drives with alt. meter stayin in the middle, but still no reverse lights. this is most likely due to the rear harness looking cobbed!!.. so no issues there really!! again thanks for all you help.. i knew it had to be somethin stupid!!