Fusible link... Battery hooked up incorrectly burnt out something

[Acworld34]

1970 Plymouth Satellite

Me and my son were changing out the terminals and had my son put in a new battery.

The negative and positive was hooked up wrong and the fusible link started smoking so I disconnected immediately.

I hooked the battery up correctly and turn the key and nothing. checked all the fuses and all were good. The instrument was already out because we were changing the bulbs in the panel. The black and red cable are still hooked up to the instrument panel and currently the panel is still in the car hanging.

I just went ahead and changed the starter relay and was doing test with the voltmeter to try to trace the burnt wire/fuse. I hooked up a remote starter gun under the hood to the starter. The car starts and runs with the key turned in the on position when I use the gun. But when I just turn the key the car does nothing.

The Fusible link looks like it was soldered to another wire that runs through the Harness and fire wall. I'm not really able to trace inside the car because A/C & dash are in the way. With the voltmeter it does looks like power going from the starter relay into the wire harness.

Any ideas on where I can find out what is burned out? Do I have to take apart the whole dash to see the other side of the inside fire wall ? If I do I don't even know where to start.

The pictures suck as I took them in with my phone. first picture you can barely see the soldered wire. Pic at the bottom was originally how I got the car with the wire soldered and a black piece of electrical tape.

 

[Mogre]

Google mad electrical.com. Search for bypassing the bulk head connector of full current to the amp gage.
Check the wiring at the ignition switch as it could also be damaged.
I think you can get an electrical schematic at mymopar.com.

 

[Glenwood]

is there voltage on both sides of the ammeter? all the fuses ok?

 

[Acworld34]

Google mad electrical.com. Search for bypassing the bulk head connector of full current to the amp gage.
Check the wiring at the ignition switch as it could also be damaged.
I think you can get an electrical schematic at mymopar.com.

I got an schematic already...I m basically a novice at this so I need to ask.... How do I check the wiring at the Ignition switch?

is there voltage on both sides of the ammeter? all the fuses ok?

The fuses look good and I did check them power going to all the lights in the car. Again I am a novice with using a Voltmeter and the electrical system so when "ammeter" what exactly do you mean.

 

[65-440]

The first thing is you need to replace that fusible link, you might have gotten lucky and the fuse did its job before anything else got smoked!

 

[Glenwood]

If the fusible link has been replaced, you should read 12VDC +/- on each post of the ammeter. The key may need to be on in your '70 though.

 

[Acworld34]

Update

I checked the amp meter and there is 12 volts to it on both sides.

So now I am getting 12 volts to the Fusible link, all the fuses are good, I don't know where else to check.

How can I check the ignition switch.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

 

[MoparLeo]

For future peace of mind, bypass the Ammeter and use a volt meter instead. No need for 12 volts to be running inside your car. Asking for a dash fire. Use a test light first, then use the voltmeter to check the actual voltage of the working connection. Since electrical is going to be a constant with our old cars, it would be well worth the price to get a Power Probe electrical tester. You can use it to power up items with out the risk of damaging any thing as the Probe with automatically shut off if the ground is wrong. On eBay they are pretty reasonable. Here is an article that every one should put in their saved folders: http://www.allpar.com/history/mopar/electrical.html

 

[65-440]

Your getting 12v to the fusible link, but is anything coming out ? You can bypass the link for the time being just to make sure everything else is good. .