1957 No start, short in wires?

J

John R. Dulin

Active Member
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Joined
May 28, 2019
Thunderbird Year
1957
I am on my second Alternator for my '57. Have replaced coil, ignition switch, neutral safety switch, installed brand new battery with no luck. The car may or may not start. If it starts
you can drive a short distance and the engine will quit. Nothing happens when you turn the key. With some help we jump started it and while at idle I was getting hot and turned on the AC. As soon as I turned the AC switch, the car died. I turned off the A/C switch and we jump started it again. This time it ran for a few seconds then quit. We jumped started again and as soon as I put it in gear, it died again and would not start. I had gauges installed. When first jump started the volt meter reads at 12 then drops to 10. On the last jump start, the volt meter dropped from 10 to 8. There is obviously some short somewhere. Any ideas on where to find it.
 
There are circuit breakers, that protect your wiring from burning down. Going from the battery, there's one on the firewall that comes back from the ignition switch. (not a good pic attached ). There's also 2 more depending on your config, one to the power seats, as well as one to the power windows.
If im not mistaking, you said you had smoke under the dash. If that's facts, you need to get under there and see what's melted. The circuit breakers (the main one at firewall) could be what's shutting you done once they become hot from a short.
 
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The circuit breakers open when they get hot(too much current) then they'll cool and make contact again
 
Since there are no obvious culprits I would look at all the ground cables and make sure you have them all (my car was missing the one from the engine to the firewall when I got it). Make sure the ends are good and the connections are clean and tight. Low voltage problems caused by bad grounds are not exactly rare and not just on old cars.
 
Since there are no obvious culprits I would look at all the ground cables and make sure you have them all (my car was missing the one from the engine to the firewall when I got it). Make sure the ends are good and the connections are clean and tight. Low voltage problems caused by bad grounds are not exactly rare and not just on old cars.
I'd pull the battery cable and do a continuity check and also see if there is a current draw with a multi meter by connecting the battery cable to the battery with the only connection being your multi meter. . If there is a short it would show up there. If the battery goes dead that fast There is definitely a big draw. You said you installed some supplemental gauges do they show the alternator charging? Are you certain it is wired correctly? I know generators if energized incorrectly they try to turn into an electric motor and cause a great amount of current draw. A simple test would be to loosen the alternator belt and see if it tries to spin on its own when energized. I don't know if that's true for alternators. Check every connection in the ignition circuit. and make sure you coat every one with dielectric grease and definitely check the grounds as jimntempe suggests. And YES definitely get under the dash and see what wires were scorched. That will also be a bit of a road map as where to go. Any fried wires will just get worse and could cause major damage. The 12 volt systems may seem harmless unlike household 120 volts but can draw vast amounts of current when shorted. Batterys have blown up and wrenches melted if the terminals are shorted by a dropped wrench over the terminals.
There are circuit breakers, that protect your wiring from burning down. Going from the battery, there's one on the firewall that comes back from the ignition switch. (not a good pic attached ). There's also 2 more depending on your config, one to the power seats, as well as one to the power windows.
If im not mistaking, you said you had smoke under the dash. If that's facts, you need to get under there and see what's melted. The circuit breakers (the main one at firewall) could be what's shutting you done once they become hot from a short.
 
I am on my second Alternator for my '57. Have replaced coil, ignition switch, neutral safety switch, installed brand new battery with no luck. The car may or may not start. If it starts
you can drive a short distance and the engine will quit. Nothing happens when you turn the key. With some help we jump started it and while at idle I was getting hot and turned on the AC. As soon as I turned the AC switch, the car died. I turned off the A/C switch and we jump started it again. This time it ran for a few seconds then quit. We jumped started again and as soon as I put it in gear, it died again and would not start. I had gauges installed. When first jump started the volt meter reads at 12 then drops to 10. On the last jump start, the volt meter dropped from 10 to 8. There is obviously some short somewhere. Any ideas on where to find it.
Have you checked / replaced your battery cables?
 
Before this issue showed up had the car been repaired in the recent past? Electrical issues often show up shortly after work was done on electrical parts or wires were disconnected during repair to something else.
 
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