I have two questions, first I had to rewire most of the wiring under the hood because of a nonexistant fuslink, and other things the PO did wrong. During the process I decided to bypass the ammeter (I'm preparing myself for the onslaught). I added in a maxifuse for the main power wire going through the bulkhead to solve the missing fuse. My question is can I run a power wire straight from the ALT to the battery? Or do I go to the relay?

Leading to my second question, after I rewired everything (except the ALT's power) I put my battery in and turned the key to accessory and for the first time my dash came to life. In my excitment I wanted to see if the car would turn over but it didn't even make a sound. Could this be due to the lack of the power wire from the ALT?

Oh I forgot, its a '68 Valiant, 225, with points ignition. Thanks -Dan

Bueller? Bueller?

Your questions sort of run together. You may want to break things up to make them easier to read.

You might also want to describe more about what you rewired under the dash and the hood so we can know where you are starting from.

I believe you can run your Alt wire to either the big post on the starter relay (That's what you mean by "relay"?), or you can run straight to the batt positive if you are bypassing the ammeter. You should probably install a voltage meter so you can monitor the charging system.

There may be a wiring problem with the starter relay, or maybe the neutral safety switch wire is not connected to the starter relay?

There are a lot of possible problems here based on the information you have given us.

Post some more info and we'll see what we can do.

Best wishes,

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Thanks Lou and sorry I was vague. It all started when I would start the car and no dash lights came on, no gauges worked, and only the hazards and blinkers worked. So I pulled my dash cluster and followed the article about replacing the dash regulator.

After I finished that I still couldn't get my dash to come to life. So I popped the hood and found lots of burned and melted wires. So I pulled out my FSM and began tracing and replacing wires and made sure they were going to the right places. Then I replaced the regulator with a newer one along with the starter relay and a brand new battery. I replaced both battery cables. I ran 8gauge power wire from the battery to the starter relay and from the relay to a maxifuse then through the bulkhead and soldered it to the power wire that goes to the fuseblock. I ran new wire to the alternator except for the power and ground which I was going to use 8 gauge and put a maxifuse between the power wire also. After all that I hooked up my battery (without the alternator powered or grounded) just to see if my dash would work and it did!

My dashlights now work and the engine light comes on when the key is turned. But when I went to see if it would show signs of starting there was nothing, no cranking sounds, no clicking, nothing. So that's what brings me to my question, does the alternator have to be powered and grounded in order for the car to turn over?

As for running the power wire from the alternator, it can be run straight to the battery and doesn't need to be hooked up to the starter relay?

Let me know if that makes more sense and if you need more info. Thanks again -Dan

The reason why I thought it was the alternator wiring was because before I started rewiring it would start.

I'll have to check that yellow wire to see if I replaced that wire or not. There were some that didn't look bad but maybe they are. I think I replaced the brown (from the starter relay to the starter solenoid) wire. But I know for sure I didn't replace the brown wire going to the neutral safety switch.

The car is an automatic, so where will I find the neutral safety switch so I can replace that along with the wire? I'm trying to replace parts as I go along and while I'm there.

I'm at work right now but I'll check the brown wire like you said. Thanks -Dan

When I got home I checked my wiring and I replaced the brown wire from the starter relay to the starter solenoid. Like I thought I hadn't replaced the brown wire from the starter relay to the neutral safety switch. BUT I found that I never replaced the yellow wire from the starter relay to the ignition. I had removed it but never replaced it. I'm going to try to get that wired and see if it will work. Thanks again! -Dan

Ha! There's a real good chance it won't start without that wire.

Danny

Bet it will start now.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Nice! Thanks guys, I really was hoping it was something simple and not something I messed up. I'm gonna try to work on it either tonight or this weekend. Thanks again! -Dan

Ok guys, I hooked up my yellow wire to my ignition and starter relay. But now when I turn the key to the right to accessory it starts cranking over? If I turn the key further like I'm starting it, it stops cranking. On top of that, if I turn it to the left to accessory it cranks. I don't remember it doing this before I replaced the burned wires, what have I done wrong?

I think you hooked the yellow wire to the wrong circuit- the accessory circuit.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

I wouldn't be surprised at this point. I'll try to climb back under the dash tomorrow and see if that's what I did.

Well I double checked the ignition wires and everything is connected right but it still cranks when I turn it to accessory and when I turn it further it stops. I can't figure this out. I've compared the connections to my FSM and the diagram online and everything looks right. Does anyone have any ideas?

Ok I got it to start right. I swapped the acc wire (black) with the yellow wire and it started just the way it should. I don't know why it is like this but I guess I'll just not it on my FSM wiring diagram for future reference.