Beware the stupid amp gauge! Finally solved my electrical issue!

Posted by 1929PackardGuy On 2022/1/30 14:20:46

My '29 633 has been giving me electrical fits since late December. It would randomly run very rough, spit sputter, flat out die at an idle sometimes, until finally on January 1st, she popped the fuse on the firewall and I went into replacing and tracing all sorts of things.

I replaced the ignition switch with a universal switch, I'd already changed the coil and condenser, checked all the grounds, current just wasn't flowing anywhere from the kill switch except to the starter motor which is on it's own line, of course. Even the headlights stopped working, and this was a professionally restored and rewired car with the correct wiring harness in it.

Found the culprit today. The amp gauge itself had shorted out and wasn't letting any current through it. I bypassed the gauge, everything works perfect, she fired right up, went for a 6.7 mile test drive and all seems well.

Of course, I don't have an amp gauge now, so, does anyone out there know who has a '29 amp gauge or rebuilds them?

And if your car starts running rough and crazy and nothing else seems to work, bypass the amp gauge. On the '29, the ignition switch and the coil are fed through the gauge, so as it was breaking down, it wasn't sending juice to the coil. Crazy little world!