Absolutely no response at all when I turn the key

[ftlallday]

'78 620 l20b swap

Did a recent motor swap, couldn't get it to start. So after some trolling i found an article on spinning the dist 180, i tried it and it started right up, but it was missing terribly. So i went to the two small wires on the dist ( red & green i believe) and switched them, the motor fired right up and was purring like the finest of felines. but then something terrible happened. A wire, coming out of my +  on my battery, [which leads to a wire junction of 3 wires from the alternator(white with red stripe, yellow & a smaller gauge white with a red stripe) and the BW from the coil, from there they merge to solid black wire  that goes to the Ignition Relay.] This wire, it fried out, and I replaced it. 

Problem

Now i have checked all my grounds, and I have refasten & tightened down all of the circuits. But im not getting ANY response when I turn my key over. No lights, no initial click from the starter, no nothing. 

Could this have to do with the flipping of my distributor, if what needs to be done to the wires to correct it?

Where could the problem lie in the no power issue? All fuses are good, and all battery connections are replaced and fresh.


Wire that fried (battery side)

 

 

 

 

 

Where the burnt wire merges

[Laecaon]

Is this a 510?

[ftlallday]

Nah, 620

[Laecaon]

Wait, did I just blatantly miss the first line of the post? I feel dumb.

 

That looks weird to me.

 

So that B/W really goes to the coil? If so, then its getting power 100% of the time when its only supposed to get ignition power.

[ftlallday]

Oh no! I felt dumb for leaving it out, I went back and added it, your good!

Yeah it runs to the coil. I rewire the wire that fried, and thought maybe the battery got drained somehow and that was where my loss of power was coming from, so i put it on a charger and it began to fry (again) the same wire along with the white and red alternator wire. you think something needs to be reversed there?

 

[Guest LoneWolf]

I'm not sure but make sure ignition wires are all connected...I'm curious to know if anything lights up on dash? or if you hear any clicking from starter? if not, maybe run a new direct wire from your ignition straight to the starter... I don't know maybe you have already tried that. Goodluck.

[ftlallday]

I'm not sure but make sure ignition wires are all connected...I'm curious to know if anything lights up on dash? or if you here any clicking from starter? if not, maybe run a new direct wire from your ignition straight to the starter... I don't know maybe you have already tried that. Goodluck.

im not getting any response at all, its like my ignition doesn't even work. even in trying to  start it by connecting the pos on the starter with the spot to plug into it, still nothing.

 

there is a break in the circuit somewhere, its gotta be.

[datzenmike]

Look near the positive battery cable. There will be a short length (3-4 inches) of GREEN wire that has plugs on each end. This is your fusible link and it my look OK on the outside but melted inside. Check this.

 

Sometimes the battery terminals are not that tight and a sudden load can pop this poor connection. Check they are clean and tight.

[ftlallday]

Look near the positive battery cable. There will be a short length (3-4 inches) of GREEN wire that has plugs on each end. This is your fusible link and it my look OK on the outside but melted inside. Check this.

 

Sometimes the battery terminals are not that tight and a sudden load can pop this poor connection. Check they are clean and tight.

Alrighty, I believe the wire you are referring to is the wire that has burned up. it is a black wire on mine and it looks to have been tinkered with at some point, and there is not a fusable link on it anywhere. I replaced it, and and thought maybe the battery got drained somehow and that was where my loss of power was coming from, so i put it on a charger and it began to fry (again) the same wire along with the white and red alternator wire. you think something needs to be reversed there since i keep burning it up, or perhaps put a fusable link back into the mix?

[Laecaon]

Fusible link burning up means there is basically a dead short.

[Ranman72]

disconnect your alternator wires. put tape on the hot one so it cant ground out. put the battery charger on your battery with the black wire disconected ( the one that melted ) 

check for any problems at this point wires getting hot etc. see if the truck will turn over .

if yes you have a bad alternator or wires hooked up wrong if no it wont start re hook up the black wire that is melting and pay attention to see if it gets hot right away 

if it doesnt get hot try to start the truck 

if it starts you have a direct short in your alternator or it was hooked up wrong 

sometimes an alternator will go bad it can take out the battery and the starter  IT IS RARE  but it has happened 

good luck 

[ftlallday]

disconnect your alternator wires. put tape on the hot one so it cant ground out. put the battery charger on your battery with the black wire disconected ( the one that melted ) 

check for any problems at this point wires getting hot etc. see if the truck will turn over .

if yes you have a bad alternator or wires hooked up wrong if no it wont start re hook up the black wire that is melting and pay attention to see if it gets hot right away 

if it doesnt get hot try to start the truck 

if it starts you have a direct short in your alternator or it was hooked up wrong 

sometimes an alternator will go bad it can take out the battery and the starter  IT IS RARE  but it has happened 

good luck 

Yeah, Draker and I have been messing with it for a couple hours, traced quite a bit of wires down, still nothing. No response any where. The horn won't even work. Damn,  its frustrating. Rewired some strange wiring configs (back to how the manual called for) from how they were. I need to find where the power goes in, any ideas?

[datzenmike]

The thick White/Red wire on the alternator is the power wire from the insulated terminal and goes back to the battery positive post through the fusible link.

 

There should be a fairly large black wire that is grounded to the alternator case.

 

The other two wires are on the plastic plug in. One of these is Yellow and the other white/red but much smaller diameter that the other one.

 

 

 

The fusible link also goes to the ignition switch AND the fuse box for things that have power available at all times like the horn, interior light, headlights, brake lights, clock. The ignition switches it ON to other parts of the fuse box.

[Draker]

I went though all the wires in the ignition circuit yesterday checking for opens and everything checked out okay.  Many of the wires on this truck have been cut spliced, replace, spliced again.. and are different colors. It appears the fuse box and ignition switch are not getting any power.

 

Which wire or wires are hot to the fuse box/ignition switch and where do they feed from? Are these the Black White wires? I'm going to take another look at the wiring diagram. I ran out of time yesterday when we were looking things over.

[Draker]

I've been looking over the wiring diagram for a bit now.. First things first... power to the fuse box.

[ftlallday]

So all my fuses were fine, pulled the plug to check a little deeper, only to find THIS :poop:  

 

 

 

 Burned a hole right through the son of a gun. i think we found part of the problem.... 

 

[datzenmike]

Headlights draw a lot of power and the fuse to clip connection gets corroded. The resistance heats up and...