Alright, my truck was somones hunting truck before i paid 500 for it and theres a major wiring problem in it i may need a new wiring harness?!? hope not but its not charging my battery at all. Brand new alt. brand new batt. worked for a bit then quit charging and if my battery dies my engine bogs down because of some electric spark controller hooked to it and i think what may be electric choke but i have no idea how to fix some of this stuff so if anyone could help me out it would be greatly appreciated if i didnt give enough details im sorry im pulling out my hair at the moment

 

can anyone atleast tell me if i can get rid of the whole electronic spark controller and electric choke???

 

Do a simple test on the charging system. On the back of the alt. there's the main chg. wire, and there's the two feild wires,one green,one blue. One feild is batt. +,the other is a variable ground controlled by the regulator. Unplug the feilds, take a test light and see which one's hot.{key on} Plug the hot one back in, start the truck. Momentarily ground the other feild terminal on the alt. with a jumper. The alt. should go to full output.

If not the alt. is shot, just replaced or no, or there's an open in the main charge wire someplace. Those years of trucks were bad about melting terminals in harness connectors, so unplug and inspect all of em the charge circuit goes through,including the bulkhead connector at the firewall,and under the dash.

If it does charge, it's the regulator,or an open between between the feild and regulator.

Btw,the amp gauge in the dash is useless, check at the output stud on the alt. and at the batt. with a volt meter when testing. Should be within 1 volt of each other. The
'70's trucks were prone to frying the amp gauge, the '80's are a revised design,but you might check the terminals there too.

 

well ive found some melted wires in the engine harness and gonna fix those up tomorrowand whatever it was has killed a brand new battery and alt. had them both checked a bit a go and both are shot so hmm(scratches head and kicks truck) lol thanks for the help lug im new to dodge i was a ford guy until i saw her i fell in love with her as soon as i seen it. she may be ugly and rusty but i see the potential in what she could be

 

I may get a kick in the nuts from a few guys on here, but the best way to fix a Dodge's idiosyncrasies is to throw the factory crap in the trash. I've never liked Mopar alternators, the idle charge rate sucks. Same feelings for the factory ignitions and wiring. The rest of the truck is what I like, especially the drivetrain.

Personally I'd put a 100 amp 1 wire GM alt. on it, run a 6 ga. feed wire straight to the stud on the starter relay,being sure it's upstream of the fuse links. Put an aftermarket volt meter in it.
Then throw the feedback carb and related BS over the fence, put a early carb and vacuum advance distributor in it. An MSD box is the easiest way to go ignition wise and can be triggered with either a magnetic pick up, or points either one. The points would last practically forever as they are a trigger only with no amp load at all.

BTW, welcome to a love/hate relationship with your Dodge lol.

 

"im sick of fixing the damned thing, but it just wont die"