72 FJ40 Ammeter re-wiring question (1 Viewer)

[Dhugalmac]

I had to pull my instrument panel and with that I disconnected the ammeter wires.
Stupid me, I did not mark the individual wires as to which wire went to which ammeter terminal.

So on re-assembling the instrument panel, I just hooked one of the ammeter wires to the terminal nearest the minus (-) side and the other to the terminal nearest the plus (+) side.

Mine is an old 72 FJ40 with a -30 to +30 amp analog ammeter.
I just now fired up the FJ40 after having let it sit for a while, but I did bring my battery to full charge with an out-of-vehicle charge.
However, while running the vehicle (not idling) my ammeter is now going FULL -30amp.
Nothing is smoking and my fusible link (now a maxi-fuse) is still OK.

So 2 questions actually....
1. Which wire should go to the terminal nearest the minus side of the ammeter - the alternator side wire or the battery side wire?
2. What might the Full -30amp reading be an indication of?
Could it be indicating some problem that I need to investigate? If so, what?

Thanks

 

[georgia fj40]

Looks like white wire goes to + and white with a colored stripe goes to - . Verify it is wired correct before you worry about the other ? . see below
http://www.globalsoftware-inc.com/coolerman/fj40/schematics/FJ40/1972-73FJ40/Haynes1973FJ40.jpg