[DeTomaso] Electrical questions--HELP!

Sun Apr 29 02:49:31 EDT 2007

Thanks for the note--I actually did charge the battery overnight with a 
trickle charger, and you can read other details in the note I just sent to 
the forum in answer to another note I got.

The Dakota Digital fan system seems to work great (assuming it's not the 
cause of all my problems!)  The unit with an extra relay to control both 
fans separately, plus the sending unit (ordered separately along with the 
extra relay) cost about $125 plus shipping.

As far as the tach--I think the tach wire needs to go to one of the 
terminals on the coil, but I'm not sure which.  Plus, I'm not sure which 
wire from the car is the tach wire.  The diagram I have shows a white wire 
and a black/w blue stripe wire both going to the tach, but it doesn't show 
if they hook to different places.  There is a molex connector from the car 
which has a pink wire on one terminal and a black wire with a blue stripe 
tied to a black wire on the other terminal.  Currently, the pink wire is 
going to the positive terminal on the coil and the black/black/w bule stripe 
wire combo is not hooked to anything.  I'm wondering if the black/black w/ 
blue stripe wire combo is the one I should hook to one of the coil terminals 
to get the tach working, but again, I don't know if that's true or if it is, 
which coil terminal to use!  The alternator is new from Pantera Performance, 
but I didn't get any instructions with it.

I'm really reticent to try anything until I find out why the ammeter is 
pegging to the right--it's showing 75 amps flowing through it.  No wonder it 
started smoking!

One more thing; when I lifted the ground while the car was running, the 
ammeter went back to normal (just a little above zero), but since that also 
caused the fans to stop, I realized I couldn't do the second ten minutes of 
my cam break-in without risking overheating, so I just turned off the car 
immediately.

Oh brother!

Thanks again,

Chris

>From: "Chris Difani" <cdifani at pacbell.net>
>Reply-To: "Chris Difani" <cdifani at pacbell.net>
>To: "Christopher Kimball" <chrisvkimball at msn.com>
>Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Electrical questions--HELP!
>Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 15:44:01 -0700
>
>Chris:
>
>As for the engine temp, watch your temp gauge. If it climbs too high, past 
>the 200° mark, then you may have an issue.
>
>On the ammmeter, just what Tomas said. Remember that battery probably isn't 
>"full", and it's just had a big drain on it via the starter. So it's going 
>to be calling for all the juice it can get from the alternator to get 
>filled back up, just as soon as possible. But after 45 seconds, maybe a 
>minute, it should back off a bit. Kinda kick down a bit, maybe to the 30 
>amp mark. Then eventually it will drop all the way down to the middle, 
>zero.
>
>One thing you can do is charge your battery up with an external battery 
>charger. Get it full to begin with, before you start the car. That's 
>probably a good idea since it will keep the big load off your alternator.
>
>As to the tach, you should be able to look in your directions, and info 
>from the distributor manufacturer and the coil maker, and see what they 
>say. Your tach needs both switched power (as in it's power turns on with 
>the key), and a signal (from the coil usually or the distributor), and a 
>ground. That's about all.... unless you've gone completely wonkers like I 
>did in my instruments with something like 17 wires coming from one, and 13 
>from the other...
>
>Now about that Dakota switch system. Which model is it, and what do you 
>think of it? I'm kinda thinking about that too....
>
>Hope this helps, and all that stuff.
>
>Chris
>
>Chris Difani
>'73 L #5829 "LITNNG"
>Sacramento, CA
>Email: cdifani at pacbell.net
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher Kimball" 
><chrisvkimball at msn.com>
>To: <detomaso at realbig.com>
>Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 2:44 PM
>Subject: [DeTomaso] Electrical questions--HELP!
>
>
>>Well, it happened again.
>>
>>This afternoon my mechanic was SUPPOSED to come over and finish the work 
>>on
>>the '72 to get it running and the cam broken in, or seated, or whatever.
>>But, for about the fifth time, life intervened, there was a death in his
>>wife's family, and he isn't going to make it.
>>
>>Therefore, I am once again asking for help from the ever-helpful forum
>>(maybe I can do this myself and save some money!)  There are two immediate
>>things with which I need help:
>>
>>1) Although the motor needs to be run for 20 minutes to break in the new 
>>cam
>>(that's what I was told, I don't exactly know how that works), I have run
>>the car for 30 seconds or so, just to make sure it runs, and the first
>>problem is that the tachometer doesn't work.  I received a new, 
>>single-wire
>>alternator from Pantera Performance, and I apparently have a ready-to-run
>>distributor, so I was told I just need to hook up one wire for the tach to
>>work.  My first question is which wire and where do I hook it?
>>
>>2) The other problem is that when the car is running, the ammeter pegs to
>>the right all the way.  Although I'm completely pathetic as a mechanic, I 
>>do
>>know that although it's good that the alternator is providing power, the
>>needle is supposed to sit about in the middle of the gauge, not all the 
>>way
>>to the right.  What do I need to do to correct this problem?
>>
>>There is one more question I have as well.  I installed a Dakota Digital 
>>fan
>>relay system and set the fans to turn on at 150 and 175 degrees,
>>respectively.  I ran the wire to the new sensor I bought and installed in
>>the engine block by the water pump.  How long will the engine run before 
>>the
>>fans should kick in?  I was thinking if I could fix the first two problems 
>>I
>>might try running the car for 20 minutes at 2000 RPMs to break in the cam,
>>but if for some reason the fans don't work, I need to know how long before 
>>I
>>should shut off the engine to avoid damage.  With everything being new,
>>there is a very pronounced "hot" smell if I run it for even a minute or 
>>two.
>>  (I have put all new coolant in).
>>
>>I know this is asking a lot, but if anyone can help me with any of these
>>questions, I'd really appreciate it.  I REALLY WANT TO DRIVE MY PANTERA!!
>>(It's actually starting to get sunny here in the Evergreen State and 
>>believe
>>me, that doesn't last for long).
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Chris
>>
>>
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