About those "melted" wires.
A lot of Chrysler products of this era had the same problem. Seems that
connector just isn't up to the job of handling all the amperage. I think by
74 (re-designed connector, - had "blades" instead of "pins"), the problem
went away.
The best (and in my opinion, the *only* way to fix them) is to just cut the
wires, and route them outside of the connector. usually the connector
plastic is melted and and the "pins" are not useable anyway. Solder the
wires, - end of problem (assuming the switch itself is OK that is).
Another thing to watch for is where these same wires go through the firewall
bulkhead. I have had to fix a lot of them by running a "solid" wire through
the bulkhead connector, - "spliced" on each side.
Regards,
DaveG.
----- Original Message -----
From: <RandalPark@xxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 7:10 PM
Subject: Re: IML: starting problems
> Several things in your note caught my eye.
>
> One of them was your complaint about the brakes turning to stone when the
car died. I am sure that you know that you have power brakes, so the fact
that this happened is due to the car dying, not necessarily anything wrong
with the brakes themselves. That said, if you haven't checked your brakes,
you should do that to be safe. Thoroughly inspect them and if in doubt
replace everything with new.
>
> White smoke when the car is cold sounds strange to me. Black smoke would
mean that your choke was too rich (tight). Blue smoke would mean that oil
was seeping past the valve guides and burning off when you first start the
car. Continued blue smoke under acceleration would mean bad piston rings to
me. White smoke usually means steam. If only slight, could mean condensation
burning off in the exhaust. Continuous would mean a bad head gasket or some
other leak from the cooling system, worst case, cracked block. I would
suggest a compression test since this may reveal a bad cylinder which could
prove a gasket problem.
>
> You ask if you need spark plugs. If the car is hard to start and the choke
is set properly, then new plugs is a good place to start. An obvious sign of
bad spark plugs is if some of them don't fire, yet you didn't say that the
car wasn't running on all 8 cylinders.
>
> Melted wires under the dash is never a good thing, but I would think if
that was related, the car would not run ever. The coincidence with the radio
knob is mystifying, although it could be related to the melted wires.
>
> Hearing lifters in a cold engine is not uncommon since they sometimes take
a while to pump up. Whether this happens or not could depend on where the
engine stops when it is shut off. Some of your lifters may pump up with oil
easier than others. This could also be an indication of having dirty oil in
your engine, having too low of oil pressure (from worn bearings) or using
too thick of oil so it doesn't pump well when cold. This should not be
related to the instances of white smoke when cold.
>
> There were lots of other things I noticed in your post, but this should
help you get started. I would say: check that the choke is working properly,
go ahead and change the plugs since they are easy and cheap, and definitely
fix that melted clump of wires. Oh yeah, I'd also do a compression test.
>
> Paul
>
>
>
> In a message dated 7/15/2004 3:01:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time, "joel
hunter" <thejoel_hunter@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
> >here's my dilema. periodically, my 72 has trouble starting. some mornings
> >it cranks right up, but i see white smoke. and usually those days, i can
> >hear the lifters. on a few occasions, it only stayed running while i held
> >the key. on a typical day i have to tug at the carb under the hood and
once
> >i get it started, i have to keep revving it or it will die. and when i
rev
> >it, i hear a screech like the alternator is going out.
> >on other mornings when its fine, it runs quiet. on those bad occasions,
> >i've had to check my wire harness under the steering column. it has
melted
> >plastic inside the socket for thick red wire. i wrapped some foil around
it
> >to make it conduct better and crimped a wire running to either side of
the
> >harness with a crip to keep a current flowing.
> >the car has cut completely off on me about 3 times while driving. it will
> >die and the brake pedal will turn to stone. it killed at the light, and
> >twice while i was coming to a stop. after i let it roll to the side, i
> >jiggled the harness and it worked again. other times i'd have to work
> >harder and mess with the box on the firewall on the passenger side
(ballast
> >resistor maybe) and it worked. yesterday all i could get was the cranking
> >but it would not turn over and start. i checked my battery cable, then
the
> >ground that goes to the block. seemed sturdy enough. dont know why but i
> >turned the key and the factory am/fm radio knob at the same time and it
> >started but i shut it off. nothing again. when i tried that evening it
> >cranked right up. and this morning, cranked right up. what is loose or
> >going out? should i get an electroninc ignition or is it already
electric?
> >is my carb bad? there a small spring broken on the lever which i
connected
> >to the gas pedal. do i just need new plugs?
> >
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