The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay '54 3100 ammeter/wiring issues.

I went out and started the truck last night and let it run for about 10 minutes to warm it up and then I shut it off. Today when I got home from school I was going to take a ride in it and when I turned the key nothing happened. No gas gauge, ammeter didn't move, and the 12v converter didn't come on. This has happened before so I tried jiggling the wires. Nothing. Then I tried tapping the back of the ammeter and the key switch. Still nothing. Next on the list was to take the wires off the back of the ammeter and try to test them, but the nuts had seized on the threads(strange, since they were off in the last two years). Ended up having to take the whole thing out of the dash and grind the studs off. Now, my question is: Is it possible that the ammeter just went out or that the wires in front of the switch shorted? I ran a jumper from the batter to the switch and everything worked, so it has to be in these two locations. I'll have to replace the wiring anyway, but if there's anyway to know that the ammeter quit working it would be nice to know.

Hy jdl, seeing you have the ammeter out, connect one side to the battery positive, connect the other side to a high beam head light one terminal, connect the other terminal of the headlight to the ground terminal, when you make the last connection the headlight should light, and the needle on the gauge should deflect to one side of center, either discharge or charge depending on the way it is hooked up. If the light doesn't light, or the needle doesn't move then the gauge has a problem, hope that helps.

Thanks 3B. I've looked and looked at the gauge but I can't see how it could actually go bad without melting. I'll try that and hopefully it will tell me what I need to know. Only other thing it can be is the wire from starter to ammeter, wire from ammeter to switch, or possibly one side of the switch went bad. Might not have hooked the jumper to the right terminal.

Good news! Ammeter is good. Turns out it IS the wire from the starter to the ammeter. It's about time that I replaced the wires anyway, they are pretty stiff and I needed to get in the dash to replace bulbs anyway.

Jordan, I am doing this right now. Found plenty of stiff brittle wires under the dash of my 56. I just re-wired all the bulbs using rivet heads for the contacts at the ends of the wires. I have the seat and the gas tank out, which makes the job a whole lot easier.

Yes it certainly does make the job easier. I was doing this with the seat in and even as young as I am I was aching and my hands were cramping by the time I was done. One thing that puzzles me is that some wires are brittle, while others are as soft as the day they came from the factory.