Stop and Interior 20A fuse keeps blowing

[Mariposa Mike]

To Twecomm... The blue (gas tank) does show the same resistance as the pink wire. None of the others do. So somewhere that pink wire is grounded. Looks like the transition to the upper interior lights is a yellow wire. I'm also going to see if I can access that wire before removing the seat. Maybe with the console lid and box removed. Still don't know what that green wire is for and need to trace that back. It might be in place of a yellow. Likely zeroing in on this. I believe at some point the carpets may have been changed. They look pretty good in most areas. Might be an ooops under there.

 

[Mariposa Mike]

Good news is I found the grounded wire. Bad news is what I had to do to get to it. It was the pink wire, not the red wire. Okay ...my bad. I had traced it to the wire harness either under the seat or in the console. Removed the driver seat and no access there. Removed the top of the shifter console cover and found the 6 way connector. Wire testing from there led me to the center console where the "glove" box is. I was suspecting the light in the console which is what it turned out to be. But....I had to find out how to get the console up to access the wire. There is a separation between the front and rear console so I removed the four screws inside the glove box and two screws holding the front shifter console down. Wedged up the center console but not far enough to see the wires. So then tried to figure out how I could get the rear console up. Could not find a blow up view of that in the 66 Dodge general manual so began to remove bolts under the arm rest.

Once those were removed I was able to get a bit of movement and had my trusty assistant (wife) hold the center console up and I was able to slip out the rear which allowed me enough room the get the center up further for a view. And there it was. The pink wire was pinched flat in two locations with bare wire showing. Still don't know what it was grounding against. The black lead, a ground I believe, had a disconnect in the same area and a green wire leading into the console for the light. This did not seem to be factory but maybe a dealership did it. During this disassembly I also had to remove the passenger seat and the fabric and trim from the side of the consoles.

Now I have to figure out how I am going to reconnect the middle and rear consoles because those four screws I removed were into a connecting metal plate. This was installed as a unit and with the deep sides and limited access I'm going to have an issue trying to get this all back together. Further to follow on that. This took me all day yesterday to get to this point so I have wire repair to do and testing after that to be sure I have completely solved that problem.

I want to thank everyone who helped on this project and I will advise a short final post if all works out. For now I have a gutted interior to deal with. I'll be cleaning the carpet while all is out of there and some corrosion issues where moisture rusted the sides of the seat frames and seat belt mounting bolts. Wish I had the replacement material to rebuild the seat foam at this point but they are easy enough to get out when I do. Mr. Dodge sure did not make that console easy access!!!

 

[Don Frelier]

If you remove the shifter knob (allen screw and then unthread the knob) you can remove the top plate easily.
You don't need to lift the whole console up.
The console isn't one of the tougher jobs on a 66 charger in my opinion.

 

[Mariposa Mike]

I did try that initially but there was some spring resistance from the release button and I just turned the cover sideways and carefully slipped it up the shifter. But to get the center and rear portion up was the issue to get to the wire(s). You cannot get to them just by lifting the front console cover. So I respectfully disagree with you on the difficulty of this job. The wires I needed to get to are routed under the center console and thru a hole in the connecting plate for the center and rear. There is no access to them. If Dodge had made a removable inner glove box it would have been easy.

 

[Mariposa Mike]

Thought I'm posting a few pictures of this project and some additional info on the console. BTW, I'm thinking one of the changes from 66 to 67 was to eliminate the middle portion of the console. That certainly gets an up vote from me after this job. The middle is connected by four screws that are accessible from inside the front console glove box. But the metal plate that secures them falls down when you remove the screws. Then I had to figure out how to disconnect the middle from the rear section. Finding bolts under the folding arm rest assembly I removed chrome trim and the bolts...except one where the captured nut popped loose. I had a bear of a time getting to that nut to hold it and continue removing the bolt. Bent some metal doing it but was pretty easy to reshape. To get it back together I am using rubber cement to dry and lock the metal mounting plate in place. Applied the four screws while it is drying to make sure it is centered. There is now ample room to set the middle section in place.

The wire was shorting out on the metal bracket at the rear of the front console. Someone, for some reason, had likely fished some wire under the console to either install the console light or to repair/replace it. The pink wire should have gone behind the metal brace but instead was between the side of the console and the brace. That pinched it in two places. There was a green ground wire added onto the black ground and that is what I found inside the console that confused me (even more). I replaced that one too with a black. With all wiring together now, there is no reading when I check the load side of the fuse. Whew!

 

[RemCharger]

Good job. They're quite the thing. I put a 66 console in my 67 because I liked it.

 

[Vinny]

A quick way to tell if you have a wiring or socket problem, or if the bulbs are drawing too many amps? Remove all the bulbs and activate all of the circuits like you did before, the current is in the wires and shorts will still blow the fuse with the bulbs out.

Remove the bulbs AND then, put the sockets back in place.