Not the starter

[nspctr1]

OK, took the bait and dumped 100 bux on new starter and I am still frying the 10 ga. wire that goes from the pos bat terminal to the harness. It only does it when you turn the key on but all other accessories work with no problem. just cant start the damned thing anymore !! I took the advice and looked for a fusible link to install but cant locate a 10 ga. one, any ideas. Or can a 12 ga work just as good. I flipped through the book and tried to test the coil, I may be doing it wrong but it says the readings should be around 1.4 or so and I am getting 4-5 ohms resistance. So could it be a bad ignitor, coil, ignition switch? thanks for your input.
Kevin

 

[CruisinGA]

check the "B" terminal of the alternator for the blue plastic insulator. If the insulator is burned up or missing the wire can short on the alternator case and this would burn the 10ga wire. My insulator went and it smoked the same wire on my truck, i made a new insulator out of some 3/8" rubber sheet i had laying around (could use cut hose) .

Now that I think about it, this is probably not the case, unless something changed 74-75 the alternator feed (the 'B' terminal wire) to battery should always be hot, not ign. Worth a look-see.

 

[Dave E]

ok it seems you have a short somewhere in your system at this point. I'd find a 12 volt light and connect it to the ends of the wire that is burning in two. This will let you reconncet everything while you trouble shoot the system. It acts as a current limiter. Nothing in your electrical system will operate properly at this point, so dont turn on your radio or anything. The light should illuminate whille you have the short. Start checking connections in your cruiser, untill you find the one that makes the light go out, or very dim(if you have a radio with a clock or something that requires power all the time it shouldnt really go out). That will be your short. Once you have replaced or repaired your short, remove the 12 volt light, and reinstall a fuseable link. They also have large capicity fuses avaliable in case you cant find a fuseable link.

Dave

 

[Romer]

The alternator is a good idea. The case is ground and the lug is 12V, so if you have a sleave that has backed off and have a poor contact (like a resistor) that will place a resistor to ground from the 12V wire causing it to overheat. This provides a current path to ground.

Do you have an Ohm meter? If so, take a reading between the bost on the alt and the case of the alt. You might take a few pictures if you can't find it.

Pin_head is right about a bad ground not causing your problem, BUT did you check it? A bad ground could mess up some of the troubleshooting you might be doing. Take the Ohm meter and measure from the frame to the Neg batt terminal. s/b less than 1 ohm.