Ammeter Pegged...Burning Electrical Smell

Posted By: MattMPA

Ammeter Pegged...Burning Electrical Smell - 03/28/12 12:42 PM

Hi guys...a friend of mine has a 1977 Dodge window van that's used for business. It's got all original paint and is in amazing shape.

He mentioned to me yesterday that the ammeter pegs at anything above idle speed and that he smells a burning electrical smell too. (The hi-beams also cause some of malfunction..but I don;t know the details on that)

Anyhow...I remember reading many years ago that there was some issue that caused this type of problem in the older Mopar gauge clusters but I can't seem to find anything on this. Perhaps a regulator on the cluster?

Thanks for any help!

Posted By: 68KillerBee

Re: Ammeter Pegged...Burning Electrical Smell - 03/28/12 12:51 PM

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml

Posted By: MattMPA

Re: Ammeter Pegged...Burning Electrical Smell - 03/28/12 01:00 PM

Thank you!!! That is what I was thinking of....jsut couldn;t remember the details.

Posted By: 70gtx440dana

Re: Ammeter Pegged...Burning Electrical Smell - 03/28/12 08:13 PM

Quote:

Hi guys...a friend of mine has a 1977 Dodge window van that's used for business. It's got all original paint and is in amazing shape.

He mentioned to me yesterday that the ammeter pegs at anything above idle speed and that he smells a burning electrical smell too. (The hi-beams also cause some of malfunction..but I don;t know the details on that)

Anyhow...I remember reading many years ago that there was some issue that caused this type of problem in the older Mopar gauge clusters but I can't seem to find anything on this. Perhaps a regulator on the cluster?

Thanks for any help!

Tell him sto stop driving it immediately!!

He should find the problem and fix it. If it is the typical Mopar ammeter wiring issue it can cause a significant fire

. I found out the hard way on my 70 Road Runner when the entire dash harness shorted out. Thank goodness the car did not catch fire.

Posted By: 68HemiB

Re: Ammeter Pegged...Burning Electrical Smell - 03/28/12 08:22 PM

What he said.

Yes, running all the load through the ammeter was a less than clever design, and the suggested bypass is seen by most as a good idea.

HOWEVER, the pegged ammeter at hand is an indication that something else is very wrong. This must be addressed immediately!

Posted By: RapidRobert

Re: Ammeter Pegged...Burning Electrical Smell - 03/28/12 08:37 PM

bad voltage reg EDIT pull the triangle VR connector ASAP so it ain't charging. It is far better to deep cycle (run it down then charge it up) the battery a time or 2 till you solve it rather than having the system full fielded like it is now, as said very dangerous

Posted By: 383man

Re: Ammeter Pegged...Burning Electrical Smell - 03/29/12 02:58 AM

First thing to do is find the problem for overcharging and fix it. Ron

Posted By: GO_Fish

Re: Ammeter Pegged...Burning Electrical Smell - 03/29/12 06:56 AM

If he's fortunate enough to avoid a fire, he will still have a mess on his hands if the battery starts spewing acid everywhere from overcharging.

Posted By: Mick70RR

Re: Ammeter Pegged...Burning Electrical Smell - 03/29/12 11:39 AM

This happened to me on Monday driving to work. The voltage regulator had burned out. Picked up another reg and was back on the road a few hours later.

Posted By: MattMPA

Re: Ammeter Pegged...Burning Electrical Smell - 04/04/12 03:29 AM

Well guys, I stopped at my friend's today...and put in a new voltage regulator. Gauge reading correctly now. We'll look into bypassing the gauge soon.

So, I'm told today that the hi-beams don't work. The blue light works on the dash...but both hi-beams do not work. I'm guessing there's a relay that gave up somewhere.

Posted By: 1965_PLYMOUTH

Re: Ammeter Pegged...Burning Electrical Smell - 04/04/12 03:34 AM

my guess would be the high beams are both burned out. or the dimmer switch crapped out, but I don't think the blue dash light would come on either then.