Alternator light & gas gauge pegged empty

[deemsriddle]

Driving home last week the alternator light came on & gas gauge pegged empty suddenly. The battery is on a tender now. All had been working earlier in the week. Hints will be appreciated. Thanks. Deems

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Fuse #8 popped. Replace it and trace down what shorted.

--DD

[deemsriddle]

Thank you Dave. Fuse 8 was, indeed, blown. It restarted without blowing. I will be off Thursday and will try to see what happened then. Deems

[deemsriddle]

After a long absence, I am back on this project. Can anyone tell me a likely areas to look. I have looked at the relays and replaced all 4 with a new relays but that didn't work. Thought about a new voltage regulator, but no luck. We installed our own tack wire when we first built the car so we disconnected that and it still blows. Back in May, when Dave suggested fuse 8, It was blown. I replaced it and started the car and all was well. After the car had been running for about 5 minutes, I decided to run an errand but the fuse blew just as I left the driveway. Now the fuse always blow immediately.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Start looking for short circuits. In my case, one of the screws holding the fuse block into its panel had fallen out. The block would shift far enough that the connectors on it would short to the panel when I hit a bump, but it would be back in place when I looked at it. I chased that one on and off for a couple of years...

Go through those circuits carefully and look for anywhere that you could have a short to ground.


--DD

[930cabman]

Originally Posted by Dave at Pelican Parts

Start looking for short circuits. In my case, one of the screws holding the fuse block into its panel had fallen out. The block would shift far enough that the connectors on it would short to the panel when I hit a bump, but it would be back in place when I looked at it. I chased that one on and off for a couple of years...

Go through those circuits carefully and look for anywhere that you could have a short to ground.


--DD

Thanks for the tip Dave, just goes to show you, anything can occur with our 50 y/o sporting machines.

And yes, tracking down short circuits can be tricky, find a wiring diagram and through process of elimination locate the problem

[djpateman]

I was working on an old harness yesterday trying to verify the connections on the fuse panel. To my great surprise I found most of the terminals were loose. Worse, when I went to pinch them a bit to restore the friction fit most just shattered. This harness was from a 74 914 1.8 that I parted out some 30 years ago, and has been boxed up ever since. There is no way that I would ever use this harness in a car in this state. So I am looking to replace the harness in my good car with new.
BTW, I had the high beam indicator wire burn out some 40 years ago, and I replaced it with a fused wire and never had another problem. But it certainly made me fearful of short circuits in the 914.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Dave, you might reach out to Jeff Bowlsby to see if he could use the bad harness, or if he can replace the failed terminals. Can't hurt to ask.

Not sure what shipping would be like, though.

--DD