posible grounding issues

this is on a 69 with no harness, jeep has been hard wired. I am having a problem with my volts gauge. Its a aftermarket gauge, the problem im having is at idle or while driving the gauge jumps around from about a half volt to one whole volt. My clutch pedal arm rests against the floorboard when it is fully released and at rest, if I push it in just enough to lose contact with the floorboard, my gauge will drop about a half volt and hold steady, no jumping around, but the headlights dim a bit. It did not used to do this, gauge is about a year old, seems to run fine though. Im thinking ground somewhere, but where?? why would the clutch pedal making contact with the body affect my voltage? As always, thanks for any advice. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Try fixing up a jumper to ground the body to the frame.

 

Yep, I think Pete has you covered unless you have a high resistance short somewhere.

 

Check the ground strap between the engine block and the frame.

 

thanks, I was thinking block to frame ground might be it, but the ground strap from body to frame sounds like it may be the one. Thanks and I can only hope its that easy.. Thanks a lot!

 

Let us know if you got it fixed and the corrective work that fixed it. Tnx

 

It almost sounds like the voltmeter is connected in place of the charge light, combined with poor grounds.

 

Will do, its around 0* here outside so, I haven't messed with it yet but, will as soon as it gets just a hair warmer. It is supposed to be 0 or below I think all this week, so I will try to do it this coming weekend. Roschmbo, I don't understand what you mean by "Volt meter is connected in place of the charge light" I have a volts gauge in the dash that I am looking at, what do you mean by charge light.

 

This would not work because the charge light is connected in series (meaning no ground return) while the volt meter only works when connected from hot to ground. I am thinking the 1/2 volt drop when pedal touches the tub is due to the dash lights coming on as this is when the lights are turned on. Just a thought, are the tail/stop lights working when the pedal is insulated from the tub?

 

Yes the tail and stop lights work when pedal is off the tub. It does the same thing if the lights are on or off, day or night, but the volts drop and bit when the lights are turned on and stays there, and with the clutch pedal doing its thing it drops more when the pedal is off the body. With the headlights on and heater on high I have 10 1/2 to 11 volts push the clutch in and I get a half to a full volt drop and it comes back up when the pedal is released and makes contact with the floorboard. Everything seems to run and work fine, just a volt drop that worries me. Oh, my headlights will dim when the pedal losses contact too.

 

Ok, I finally got around to fixing this. I ran a ground strap from the body to the frame as you guys said, and now my volts hold steady all the time, except just a small noticeable drop when accessories are turned on. No more of the needle jumping around. Thanks guys!!