Challenger wiring

[barretta]

I have a 72 challenger and the wiring is not cooperative. Can anyone break down the INSIDE wiring for me? I can't get the dash lights to work and the blinkers act like they aren't grounded. And there is a RED wire that goes to the ignition that isn't connected to anything---where does it go?

[Rallye72]

I have the shop manual and wiring diagrams. What cluster do you have, Rallye or non Rallye?

According to my diagram the Red wire goes to the battery thru a splice and then to the bulhead disconnect - the large plastic block that all the wirews feed into that connects thru the firewall.

I don't knowwhat state your car is in but having been thru this many times I recommend the following:

1. get a NEW dash harness thru Year One. They are not cheap but if the car is valuable to you the expense of avoiding an electrical fire is a good investment (been there, done that).
2. Get a shop manual on CD for your car. It has ALL of the electrical wiring diagrams and will help you in all areas pertaining to the car.

let me know what cluster you have I can always try to scan in the diagram and email it to you.

[barretta]

It is a 72 Rallye. I've already had problems with that redwire: assumed it was hot, plugged it in and it caught fire, melted . But everything starts and runs alright--except the dashlights and funny-grounding-like situation i have. I am/was afraid i melted the live wire that was meant for the dash lights...

And the Gas Gauge won't work! (on a brand new sending unit)

Any help is really really appreciated. Thanks.

[Rallye72]

Ok, give me a day, I'll get my scanner set up and pdf the appropriate pages for you. If you can afford it I really recommend you buy some new wiring harnesses and install them.

I'm not an electrical expert but the gas gauge probably isn't grounded properly, possibly at the sending unit itself to the frame of the car. I think originally there was a small "strap" in place that served that function.

[barretta]

Thanks a ton.

I did see a grounding wire (probably not original). Did it go directly onto the sending unit wire? Or simply touch the gas tank? Sorry for all of the questions.

[Rallye72]

As I recall there was a small metal strap that clamped onto the metal fuel line coming from the sending unit, it spans over the rubber fuel line and then connect to the metal fuel line running forward. It serves as a ground strap. Most are long since gone but I think you need some sort of ground to get the gauge to work properly.

We've had this discussion in here before and other guys had solutions, you may want to search the site for previous posts to see what other suggestions were made.

Don't worry about te questions, it's why we're here.

[Rallye72]

Let me know where to send the PDF, it's 1.5 meg and I can't post it here.

[Rallye72]

Baretta: send an email to starmarshal@gmail.com. Let me know where to send you the wiring pdf file. I can't post it here, to big.