Joined: Sat Dec 10 2005, 04:28PM
Location: United States
Posts: 4954
Cool! Glad we gave you all the places to look on the first round.
It is still a real good idea to check the bulk head connectors. They are nutorious for causing problems. A little vasoline goes a long way. If the factory had done that, many failures would never have happened.
As long as the head lights are working, when the weather gets warmer, take a look. It's about a 20 minute job.
Just as a tip, if your ammeter shows a high charge all the time, or you have excessive light dimming at idle, there is a potential problem with the main feed wires going through the bulkhead. The are the #10 sized wires. I believe you may have two on your car. I have a red and black on my 71
Joined: Sat Oct 22 2005, 07:55PM
Location: ILLINOIS
Posts: 63
YOUR CAR MAY HAVE A HEADLIGHT CIRCUIT BREAKER. THE 69 SERVICE MANUAL SAYS THERE IS ONE MADE IN WITH THE HEADLIGHT SWITCH THE 73 MANUAL SAYS NOTHING ABOUT A HEADLIGHT CIRCUIT BREAKER. THE HEADLIGHT DIMMER SWITCH IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE THE POWER TO THE HEADLIGHTS GOES THRU IT BOTH LOW AND HIGH. THERE SHOULD BE A GREEN WIRE GOING TO IT, THATS THE WIRE THAT HAS POWER AT IT WHEN YOU TURN ON THE SWITCH.TRY TO GET THE LIGHTS TO STOP WORKING AND THEN SEE IF THERE IS POWER AT THE GREEN WIRE WITH A TEST LIGHT.IF THERE IS POWER THERE AND YOUR LIGHTS ARE STILL OUT THEN YOUR SWITCH IS GOOD NOW SEE IF THER IS POWER AT EITHER THE RED OR VIOLET WIRE AT THE DIMMER SWITCH, LOW IS VIOLET AND RED IS HIGH IF YOU HAVE POWER AT BOTH YOUR OK THERE , WORK THE SWITCH WHEN YOU DO THIS TO VERIFY POWER AT ONE OR BOTH. IF YOUR OK THERE NEXT CHECK THE BULKHEAD CONNECTOR RED AND VIOLET THERE TOO CHECK POWER ON BOTH SIDES OF THE CONNECTOR IF YOUR OK THERE TRACE THE WIRES TO THE HEADLIGHTS CHECK GROUND ETC. THIS IS BASICALLY THE WHOLE SYSTEM FOR MOST OLD MOPARS. NO MATTER WHAT CLEAN AND SERVICE THE BULKHEAD CONNECTOR PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE ALTERNATOR AND BATTERY WIRES THOSE ARE THE RED AND BLACK WIRES THEY ARE MABYE 10 OR 12 GUAGE THOSE WIRES CARRY ALMOST ALL THE POWER TO THE CAR. THEY GET HOT AND MELT THE BULKHEAD CONNECTOR ALSO CHECK THE RED AND BLACK WIRES AT THE CONNECTORS UNDER THE DASH THESE TWO WIRE WILL CONNECT AT THE AMMETER ALSO. <span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Tue Feb 28 2006, 11:48PM ]</span>
Joined: Mon Feb 20 2006, 08:12PM
Location: Ontario,Canada
Posts: 950
Thanks for all the info..I'm going to go through all the suggestions when the weather warms up ... it good to know how to do this anyways since it is a old car..
BTW.. the headlights do dim quite a bit at idle but most of the time the ammeter sits in the center location except when I've had to crank a bit to start the car..
I thought that was just what old mopars did.. I remember my brother old 1971 Dart used to do that too...
Joined: Mon Oct 10 2005, 10:45PM
Location: Lansing MI
Posts: 513
Definitely clean the bulkhead connectors!
Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to clean the headlight sockets themsleves, and the ground wire connection. (If I remember correctly, this is a wire from the back of the headlamp buckets screwed to the radiator support.)