Gauges and such

None of the gauges on my jeep work except for the gas gauge. I assume the speedometer just needs a new cable, i Know the oil guage has been clipped and plugged, but I'm starting with the ampacity gauge. I looked back there and the two wires had no insulation, I think it had fried off. I am gonna replace the wires all together. Where do the two wires on the back of this gauge go to? Also, what size wire. It looks like they used maybe 10ga. or so?

 

I'd say don't bother with another amp guage, and replace it with a voltmeter. I presume that you posted in the intermediates because this is the '74? IIRC '75 came with a voltmeter.

A burnt-up dash from fried ammeter wires is common on the full-size Jeeps (ie Wagons and J-trucks). My truck has an ammeter, but it's bypassed. There's no real need to bring the high-current wire under the dash except for the ammeter - keep the battery charging connection under the hood, and as short as possible.

 

Consider yourself lucky the gas gauge works.

 

If I clipped both these wires off the back of my amp gauge and just left them there, would that cause any problems such as arcing or the battery not charging?

 

Yikes! Well, normally all the charging and running current goes through the ammeter, so yes it will make a difference. If it's running now with those wires in place, I'd trace down where they go and remove them. If not, then you have to wire up something to provide a link to replace them.

<edit> Well, "all the charging and running current" isn't right, since the ammeter can deflect to positive or negative. It shows the difference between the charging and battery circuit. Still a lot of amps.

 

X2R)

 

well the insulation is melted off the wires but they are twisted around each other I guess making a circuit? this wire has melted the hell out of all the electrical tape and what not its been bundled with other wires in.

 

Yeeeaaaahhh thats what you call a fire waiting to happen. I would fix that before you drive it again. There are like 30+ amps running through that wire and if there is missing insulation and that wire hits ground....Oh boy. I had a short in that wire once when I was doing a restore and when that wire shorted it shorted very fast and the insulation was completely melted in less then 30 seconds. I was lucky enough to be able to get the battery dissconected before a fire started but still very scary. Good luck.

 

That is correct, the battery would not charge. I would disconnect the battery and remove all of that wiring. Then I would buy a cheap volts gauge (or expensive if you prefer) and replace it.

At the same time I would determine the extent of repairs required for the rest of the wiring and decide if you want to drop the coin for the wiring harness. I wired all of mine one wire at a time. While I was at it I added a fuse box from a later model and wired in a GM tilt column for turn signals, horn and ignition. If you can read a wire diagram I don't think it is any harder to wire that way.

I find it kind of ironic that the gas gauge works and no others. Both of mine the gas guages don't work and everything else does. I have the sending unit out of green jeep right now as that was the culpret on that one.

 

X2, or 3 or...toss the amp gauge for a volt gauge, and fix the wire before anything else.

 

Holy crap. Is this in the same jeep that we were talking about voltage regulators the other day? I definitely do not remember reading anything in that post about melted wiring.

Okay, look: I know that we all, myself included, get these jeeps and immediately want to go out and start beating the snot out of them, but there just has to be a point where you stop, take a deep breath, count to 10, etc. and do whatever you have to do to get to your own personal calm place. Once you're there, do yourself a favor and fix those problems now, the right way, the first time before you end up with nothing more than a pile of embers in the driveway - or worse.

Disconnect your battery, get some wiring diagrams (good ones, not crappy Hanes manual reprints), and start tracing and labeling everything. I definitely agree with removing the ammeter wires at their source. Find a jeep buddy who has a good grasp on DC circuits.

 

If some of the wire insulation damage isn't too extensive, go to the hardware/ auto store and get some heat-shrink tubing. If you look around you can usually find it fairly cheap. When I was in the army I did electrical work and repairs on the Apache Longbow helicopter, and we used a lot of heatshrink, but never used electrical tape. I personally would never use tape for purposes of insulating wires, only for bundling wires together, and even then I'd do use it sparingly. As for the wire on the ammeter, I'd replace the whole wire and install a voltmeter like many others said, but if you are looking for a quick fix, I'd follow the wire back as far as needed to find solid insulation, clip it there, and then apply some heat shrink over the end, heating and crimping the end with pliers so it's weatherproof. I'd also label that wire so if you did choose to replace it later, you'd have a better starting point.