Ammeter not functioning, so going to chase down the issue. The diagram shows a 5A fuse on each incoming wire as well as a "fusable link". Anyone have any idea where these 2 fuses are? in the cab or under the hood? I dont mind pulling it apart to start looking but if someone could save me the time as to where to start that would be helpful. Also, what is a fusable link, a bypass? The 4xgauges are all input from behind with a single clip with 8-10 wires feeding in. Thanks and happy Thanksgiving.
Your little fuses are probably in the same place as mine on my 1979 BJ40, that is, near the positive lead to/from the battery under the hood:
As for your fusible links, they are short sections of smaller-gauge wire that are placed in important feed wires to protect your vehicle from fires that may otherwise result from short-circuits. (With a fusible link in place and when a short-circuit occurs, that short bit of wire blows safely inside a short fabric sleeve leaving the main wire unharmed from the excessive current.)
Your ammeter in reality is a voltmeter whose needle moves in response to the voltage-drop across your main fusible link. It is callibrated in amperes (-50 to +50) to pretend to you that it is an ammeter..
Thanks for the helpful pix and info, at least I know what about to look for now. The more I look at pix and wiring diagrams, the more I realize how chopped up my FJ is. The biggest violator is that I only have the main battery lead from the + side to the starter with no other wires attached to the post. Im missing the white blue line that feeds off it, but apparently it's tied in somewhere because that seems to power quite a bit that is currently functioning. I'm sure when this was moved the fuses and fuseable links were removed. I'lll go out and dig around some more and see what I find.
So for the fusable link, its essentially a much heavier gauge fuse? The White Blue line that contains this fuseable link that passes the ammeter seems to drive a lot downstream from it.
I think fusible links are more effective than fuses at "allowing brief over-currents while at the same time protecting the loom from prolonged over-currents".
Generally they should be two gauge sizings smaller than the wire they're protecting..
If your +Ve feed isn't attached to your battery's +Ve terminal then they've probably taken it from the "starter motor end" of that thick starter motor feed cable.
