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69 Roadrunner goes completely dead intemittently. HELP!!!

mguesto said:
do apply grease to the bulkhead connections to prevent rust from forming. I had to purchase a new
ignition switch for my GTX ( did not install yet) from Tony's autoparts in Delaware. He seemed to
be the cheapest at the time. I got the entire lock and key set. I think it was around $90 or so. He is on the internet.

Remember this, as I was shopping. It turns out that 1969 is a one off year for the ignition switch.
So be sure you get the correct one is you need to go this route.
Click to expand...
Is this the right switch? image.jpg
 
If the bulk head connector looks good still replace the blade connectors with bullet connectors and run wire through the holes... New harnesses put the lights on relays and the blower motor on relays and on and on throughout don't wait for a melt down dielectric grease everything electronic but the blade connectors were shite from day one.... study the volumes on mopar electrical upgrades and it costs peanuts to do.... why is everyone so fearful or neglecting of electrical ?
 
Looking at the pictures of the bulkhead connectors on the engine side, it appears to me the large black power wire in the middle plug appears to be have been overheated. It is the 2nd one down on the right in the middle plug. If that is not making good contact, it could cause the problems you are experiencing. Could cause a fire too! Both the Red and Black #10 wires and those blade connectors are the first to become overheated so if you want to stay with the ammeter, it may be a good idea to eliminate the spade connectors and run those two wires direct thru the bulkhead. I plan on eliminating the ammeter in my 68 Charger and both of those wires from going thru the bulkhead. I am rebuilding the gauge cluster and it will have a volt meter in place of the ammeter. There are a few diagrams on the net showing how to complete the re wire.
 
I agree with everyones take. I definitely eliminating the blade setup. I feel that the electrical is way to important and easy to fix. For me, I plan to spend the time and bulletproof the system now. The MAD upgrades are really common sense and keep the amperage outside under the hood as it should be. I will update as I go along and hope to report its fixed really soon. I will take pictures for my own use and post them here for the next guy.

- - - Updated - - -

Would love to know if this is correct one too.
 
Although I agree with losing the amp gauge for avolt meter, from the looks of your pictures you are not having a wiring issue, sounds more like a component issue, have you looked at a wiring diagram at all and traced main power from battery through fuse box and out to ll parts?

I ask because it is known for the dimmer switch to fail along with the headlamp switch to overheat and the ignition switch to get hot from a short circuit and melt a part of the connector so much the terminals come loose.

I would test all those parts first before doing a whole new re wire. looking at your pictures it looks really clean.

Fusable link for sure check with an ohm meter for continuity but if it;s good remeber power runs through the headlight switch and even to the rear it runs through the turn signal cam in the steering column.
 
I appreciate the input. Honestly after seeing the horror story pics on here, I was quite surprised when I took pics last night. I almost wonder if my harness was replaced at some time. The wires are all pliable and I have yet to find an overheated wire. It could still be there though since I have not traced it all the way to each component. The bitch of it is, that when I have a failure/no start issue, the ignition does nothing and the head light switch just happens to be what I have found to cut things out for a split second when driving. I was speaking with my Dad and he said grounds are known to be inadequate or missing. He recommended that I have one from battery to intake / block, battery to body, drive train to frame. That made sense to me. At the end of the day, if it would stop raining I would know more.
 
I would add one thing..... whether you find this soon or not there's a couple of things I think you should know about your 69.
If everything dies you can always run a jumper wire (pre made ahead of time the correct length, w/heavy alligator clips) (from battery power (pos) to the positive side of the coil. Next use a screw driver to jump across the starter solenoid. Be sure it's in neutral, and unless the points are welded together or the coils toast the thing will start up. I always carry a spare coil and a set of points in the trunk along with a flashlight. These things don't take up much room in the tool box. These cars are very simple in design and you can always get it back home with a little for thought.
I hope this helps.
Bill
 
Thanks Bill! I have a few Snap On jumper leads I carry with me and always have a small bag of accessories to get me home. I bought some LED flares now too just to be safe. Being in a black car on a freeway on ramp at night in black clothes changes perspective quickly:)
 
I have some home work for you, simple stuff. the links below are wiring diagrams that I have marked up for you to help you trace out the primary power and potential sources of trouble.

Noticed I highlighted the cigar lighter in green - special - when I first bought my car some fuses were missing so of course replaced them and blew 3 or 4 before tracing out a ground(shorted to frame) cigar lighter wire.

Look at it use it to trace out wires from the fuse box, I really think it is something simple besides grounds. grounds are hugely important but have never had one just shut it all off like you describe, just me probably.

On detail A notice a factory splice in the power (black) run this feeds the fuse's if your harness has been replaced with new maybe that is questionable. just an example of things to look for.

good luck let me know if you need a factory service manual version of these, it's more complicated for the layman to read than these but I will do it to help you no worries.




https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B80Fl-dk3nwWTV9OQXpMbkdtSVk/edit?usp=sharing


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B80Fl-dk3nwWTncwU1hLLTh5TFE/edit?usp=sharing
 
It would appear that the splice may be the culprit. It goes to ignition and headlights. I will definitely dig around tomorrow and find that things and trace out the other wires. Thanks for the marked up diagrams, pretty handy and will help when hanging upside down under the dash. Really appreciate the help. This forum rocks!

Al
 
So I have been sitting here going through pictures and zooming them in on the bulkhead connector (firewall side). It looks like to me after zooming, the middle connector, P (Black) and J (Red) show some melting at the top left side of the rubber protecting the blade. Ironically both of these wires go to the ammeter. So obviously, I will remove the blade connectors there and either solder connections or possibly just run a new one piece wire. I feel like its progress........
 
Is it me or did Ford make the '69 wireharness for mopar?... it seems the only way to solve it is to do all the upgrades from mad electrical and Nacho thread... from scratch... use a good wire and go a size bigger everywhere... make a bank of relays or buy one... One of a jeep seems popular... be thorough and tidy.... avoiding a meltdown... any extra add on gets a separate circuit.
 
Thanks Dennis. Looks just like the one I have. I really think after this weekend, should have all the little bugs out. I followed a lot of wires tonight and the harness really looks great. I am thinking someone replaced it at some point. The wires are all to pliable and spotless to be originals if I had to guess. Plugging along. Ordering ignition and headlight switch tonight when I got your message. Thanks man

- - - Updated - - -

I own a 77 Jeep CJ-5 and went through the same things many years ago. It had the Ford spark box. I ditched it and wound up adapting a Chevy HEI distributor to the inline six. Then proceeded to add a marine fusebox and then put all the loads on heavy duty continuous solenoids like they use on 18 wheelers and a bank of Bosch relays and amazingly the damn thing started actually working. That's why I am going to upgrade the Mopar wiring to be safe. The ammeter wiring is really not the best idea and the monster splice under the dash really needs to just be individual wires to fuses. Anyway, I am working on this harness and it is really not all that involved, but it needs to be done nice and neatly. I looked under the dash and hood of my 2013 Challenger and chuckled knowing in 45 years some guy is gonna be on this forum trying to troubleshoot the 5 miles of wiring and bitching about how shitty the connectors were in 2013.
 
Okay, so I wanted to post an update to make sure others with the same problem know what I wound up doing. This weekend I had limited time, but I took the two wires entering the bulkhead connector that connect to the ammeter and pulled them out of the connectors on the engine side. I also popped the bulkhead connector on the interior side and pulled it through the firewall into the engine bay. I then removed the two wires going to the ammeter from the interior side of the bulkhead connector. I drilled the connectors on both sides and temporarily installed a wire through the connectors. I then spliced the wires together. Then I just put it all together. Total time maybe 15 minutes. Since having completed this "temporary repair", I have driven 170 miles with no dying in flight, no headlights killing the car and no issues. I am optimistic that things are good, but I am going to drive this way for a few weeks before making some really nice clean splices and then repeating the process on ALL the bulkhead wiring. Great fix, great advice and I appreciate everyones help.

Will take photos of the repairs next time and post.

THANKS,

AL
 
It never is one thing... New out of the box will fail... knowing how it all works and and where the weak links are is most of it... I start from scratch on a unknown to me car..... sure I may toss out good wire.. but I don't want to wait for the last mile it will carry me to before it smokes.... I prefer to fix it on my time. These threads help me to get my head around my system.... everything working... but I decided I will do all the upgrades anyway and the whole car gets the latest up grades...
 
Definitely will be upgrading my system to be safe. Every chance I get I am out there tracing wires and investigating. Thank god the wiring is simple. If it were my 13 Challenger R/T, I would be stressed and paying for the Stealership. Thanks for all your help, guidance and thoughts!
 
I had similar issue on a 1969 Dart in 1983. It would cut out on and off, and sometimes while driving. I would wiggle the ignition key while driving and that would keep it running when it wanted to die.

It could be 1. Ignition area switch. 2. main bulkhead wire that runs to ignition. If yours is crappy at the bulkhead, run a separate wire and disconnect the disintegrating bulk head wire.
 
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