The One Wire That Will Save Your Car! 

999thenewman - My neighbor across the street has an old diesel Jetta. He opens the hood more than he does the drivers door. 😂

@@blipco5 😂😂 I feel attacked by these comments

Sounds like my 65 Valiant

I popped my hood latch til the rivets holding the latch on failed. Then I bolted that mother f*cker down. That b!tch is popped right. Now.

I got so tired of it I took the hood off lol

Laughing my ass off !

Kev ate a scissor kick to the back of the head on that one

I say it all the time, just cause someone does it for a living, doesn't mean they are good at it. We have all had an idiot coworker who doesn't know how to do shit.

I did that once and I learned my lesson when I saw my switch starting to smoke lol since then I never wire anything without a fuse or a relay with it even if they were little tiny lights I put it to a fuse and relay.

I repaired at least a couple dozen Harley harnesses when those killer loud 140db electric air horns were popular. They came with a relay and wiring diagram, but the so called experts knew for sure that the 18 gauge wire for the factory horn was enough for those little blasters (over 10A load!) $10 parts, 2 hrs labor, easy clean work. 14 gauge wire and a $5 relay would have been a lot better up front than as a repair. Funny, I haven’t seen one of those horns in a few years now......

VCPSA

The most important part is it doesn’t matter exactly what kind of link you have. Be it a fusable link that melts. Or a fuse that pops and can be replaced. Or even circuit breakers “like in a house” Those are my favorite but most expensive. But! Great for testing. Just don’t be tempted to hold the switch down to try and get home

....or tap in circuit breaker...

i've been there more than i'd like to admit, glad you found your problem. Thanks for the laugh too!

For me it was dad's 76 F250.. it kept burning the damn things, and finally I tracked down the problem, but its been 34 years so I can't remember what it was. So when it happened on the 67 Cougar, I knew exactly what it was. Have never had a problem like that with my Pontiacs, but man the Fords sure had gremlins in them.

Always check the ground first, then the positive side.

Ever seen an ammeter catch on fire ? It's pretty cool. I've heard of it , and then got to see it live in my buddies Cutlass one day while we were sitting at a light. And it was near his left knee. I was able to reach under and bust the wires off and we got it out , tied the wires together and rode home. I hate ammeters , I'll take a volt gauge any day.

Grabbing a wire that is shorting is dangerous. I was using welding wire to test a circuit, and accidentally shorted it and it touched my hand. Yay another blister! You fit right in here!

I had a 73 cuda that had the amp meter in the dash short out and kill the car dead and wouldn't start afterwards. It didnt blow the fusible link. Just a loose wire at the back of the amp meter. Friggin lucky.

@@fastinradfordable Haha I did that once , I had a jumper wire I was testing with on the + for the battery , I slipped and it touched the core support and started smoking. Like hell I'm letting it melt to the plastic grille below it. Burned me right in the index finger at the first joint and almost stuck my tip of my finger in a bend, like it was tight for a few days to straighten that end of my finger out. Saved a 125$ grille though 🤣

@@simplyfred8044 Hell yea ,cause the one in my buddies Cutlass actually had flames brewing inside behind the glass. Haha it was assholes and elbows as I ran around to the other side and pulled him out and started to rip the wires off the back. Didn't get burned but it was an exciting moment. Then the light turned green and we had 50 cars beeping at us as we pushed it to the roadside.

What year cuda and what year challenger?

Smart people that drive and old Chrysler "ALWAYS" carry one in their glove box. Chrysler should have put an extra one in at the glove box at the factory. It is as needed as much as a spare tire! I remember when I was about 13 and I saw a bunch of adults around the hood of a Chrysler that wouldn't start. Nobody could figure it out. I had seen my older brother diagnose his car days earlier as a bad ballast resistor. They were saying they checked points and fuel but it still wouldn't start. I removed the wires from the ballast resistor and held them together. I said OK, start it up! An adult said you mean, try to start it ??? I said NO! Start it up...... The car fired up and everybody looked amazed or dumbfounded. I said just replace this ballast resistor and walked away like it was nothin'. I got to feel like a genius for a day. 😲 😂 😃 😀

yeah the ballast resistors amazing you almost think it's a fuel pump at first. just a simple thing with Chrysler to you just unscrewa couple of hex screws into the firewall switch it out plug the new one in and it fires right up. they truly are weird how they can do that and people that don't know anything about mopars back in the day get towed in the shops and everything.. and It happened One night after seeing movie back in the eighties I'll never forget it. first Chrysler product of the 70s I owned acted like the fuel pump with bad just said they're turned over and turned over just wouldnt start. guy with a big old Monaco walked over here. proceed to take the ballast resistor out pluged the new one in and started right up.gave him five bucks at the time I'll never forget it. Went home ever since that time I said that's unbelievable he said they'll go out when you least expect them to. from that point on I always kept a spare ballast resistor in the glove box on all three of the Mopar cars back then

LeeDuKe 951 - both are 1970.

My father would only buy Chrysler Corp. cars and when I was a child in the late 1970's we had 3 Mopars with the electronic ignition. The oldest was a 1974 Valiant which my Mother drove ( we also had a 1976 Dodge pickup and my Fathers new 1979 Chrysler Le Baron) and it left me and her stranded one day while we were shopping. A good samaritan that happened to also have a Valiant offered to help. He got his spare ballast resistor and crescent wrench out of his trunk and changed it out in less than 1 minute. The car started right up. He told my mother to buy a few extras and keep them in the car along with a wrench. My mother did just that and I quickly learned how to change them out. It turns out that the aftermarket ones didn't last long at all ( about 6 months to 1 year ) but were about 1/4 the price of an OEM unit. My mother finally got wise and spent the extra money on 2 factory ones. These lasted at least 3 to 4 years each. We had one still in the box in the glove compartment when we sold the car in 1985 because my Father bought a '85 New Yorker Turbo for my Mother as an anniversary present. When the new owner called us in 3 weeks complaining that the car wouldn't start, we told him about the spare resistor. He called back 15 minutes later and said that the car ran and everything was good.

What are you referring to when you say " regular " and " fusible link " wire. ? Thanks in advance. Jack

Electronic voltage regulator will need to be grounded due to rust also!

That's a good question because I have always wondered about those grounding strips that drag on the ground. In order to actually 'ground' your car otherwise its sitting on 4 insulating rubber tires ? Where does the electricity go once its "inside" the frame if your car ?

@@matthewb7049 It goes through the negative cable to the battery. That's why it's called a circuit. If you follow the negative side of the battery the strap is screwed to the frame. PS. Some older cars were positive ground. The positive cable went to the frame.

twisted dome They “grounders” that drag are for static electricity. When electricity grounds in your cars system that just means it’s on its way back to the battery. You could run a separate ground wiring harness if you wanted and actually make it so the body of your car would not complete the circuit to the battery. And that might actually be the safest option. Won’t save you from a failed alternator though!

Thanks guys 👍

i swapped out the instrument cluster in my 77 chevy K10...... old one was a volt meter..... "new" one was a drain / charge meter . started up the truck..... and smelled melted plastic.... and the guages were all fucked took it back apart... . and the "printed circuit board" on the back of the cluster was all melted. . thought about it for a second..... and then realized a volt and amp meter are wired COMPLETELY differently

You're barking up the wrong tree chasing fusible links for that issue. Anyway The heater/AC fuse in that truck is powered from the ignition switch which is common to fail. So head to the ignition switch and begin your diagnosis there. The only thing a fusible link has to do with the HVAC is the high speed blower position. Incidentally, there are no fusible links placed inside the passenger compartment on any vehicle for what should be obvious reasons. Fire.

BERPSU1 thanks for the tip. I probably didn’t say it correctly. I found out about fusible links researching where to chase wires. I didn’t know about them until recently. I’ll head to the ignition switch and start there. Thanks!

On your Camaro it goes from the battery cable post on the starter up to the main harness.

🚔💥😵👉😢😢🥉😖🥶💖😂👮‍♂️👮‍♂️🥵🏍🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆

I actually prefer an amp gauge to a volt gauge. Better information.

That's what I did. If you upgrade your alternator, you have higher current going thru the firewall bulkhead and a better chance of smoking stuff

Not a bad idea, but if one wants an ammeter, there is a better way. Mount that resistor (called a shunt resistor) under the hood, in the best place, electrically and mechanically, and then run the "voltmeter wires" to the gauge. That way, all that current isn't going into the car to go through the ammeter and then back out again. My boss' old Dodge van had a bad ammeter connection in the dash, and the damn thing would always stop running at the worst times.

@@excavatoree That's a good idea and there is a thread about that on forabodiesonly.com.

@@colemanadamson5943 Same here. I like to know what my charging rate is. My Jeep already had a voltmeter as part of the factory gauge package, then I added a 100-amp ammeter (it has a 100-amp alternator).

I’m glad yourself learned something new, lol.

@Lassi Kinnunen like several have said it will take a bit of over amperage compared to what it's rated at so little glitch doesn't blow it up and stop you dead. I would also add from experience that the fuse and holders can get corroded with enough time depending on the weather proof quality of the holder. Of course I think modern blade fuses hold better but it still happens. A fuse equivalent would probably be a slow blow version as they'll take minor spikes without popping.

With a fusable link I hope

Nathan Brame absolutely not.

Battery cables are the trickyest, I think people just overlook them because of the bulkyness and the usually nice looking colored jacket they have. I have been making my own out of purchased high quality componants for the last bit, too many chinesium premade cables around anymore.

wow. 66 wildcat are pretty rare. my dad had a beauty. glad to see some still rolling.