So I’ve got this new to me ‘69 Cutlass with a parasitic draw, metered at about a 1/4A so got to pulling fuses. All checked out until I go to pull the power lead off the 3 meter combo pack that every muscle car had bolted to the bottom of the dash. So ok, temp gauge no worky, we’ll just leave it unplugged.

go to start the car a few days later and no powa, anywhere.

Hmm, retrace my steps and oh, that power lead, connected it up and back in biz but that parasitic draw.

so I go to tracing wires thinking the temp gauge was just spliced into the main lead and feed the fuse box which it does but does so back under the hood.

so question after the long story is can I connect what looks to be a headlight power and something else to the power terminal of what looks to be a ballast resistor(?), someone check me on that please?

so here’s the pic for these 1,000 words, looking down over driver side, battery to the top of pic. Red main feed from battery serving the box thing. Black wire going to temp gauge under dash, back to the junction with another black lead that seems to feed the fuse panel. On this same junction is what I think is the headlight power wire and some other wires that go 🤷🏼‍♂️

I want to get rid of this junction point which is a nut/bolt with about 4 wires on it.

 

Your picture isn't working.

 

Is one of the gauges in your combo pack an AMP meter?

 

Looking forward this, not sure if the ‘71 manual that’s stickied would be the same.

have an ammeter wired in that keeps my fuse panel powered causing a 3A draw from some place I still have to find.

A file I can save to my iPad would be ideal.

 

Amp meter or volt meter?

There are very minor differences in 69 and 71 wiring. How are the gauges wires now? A voltmeter draws very little current, you could run a voltmeter on a fully charged battery for weeks before you would notice loss of battery charge.

 

I merged your 2 threads. That wonky junction and wiring is disturbing in your picture.

 

def an amp meter which seems to work and may not be the cause to my current draw. Yesterday I went to replace a 25A fuse that looks to be the cgr/accs circuit and it blew on initial contact. Even with that fuse out there is still a 3A draw somewhere. With the meter wired on, key off, the fuse panel is powered.

the meter itself is spliced into the main power harness and the fuse panel is powered from the junction that the meter is wired back in to.

i have a fair understanding of electrical but never dealt with it much but do believe my fuse panel should not have power with key off so am wanting to find my ignition wires and return the system back to stock.

here’s a pic of the under hood junction which just shows the black wires going to/from the meter and fuse panel in car.

the thick purple wires going to the ignition run off towards the passenger side dash for some reason and not towards the fuse panel. Maybe they were supposed to be and are spliced on the meter somewhere.
Sorry for the ramble, still trying to figure this out. Will get back in there today.

 

There are some fuses that are powered in the off position. Clock, cig lighter, courtesy/dome lights, tail lights, and brake lights. Where does the green wire go? Where does the red wire with the yellow terminal go. What's powered off the screw junction hanging in the air? This 68 wiring diagram should be close to a 69.
1968 A body wiring diagram - ClassicOldsmobile.com

 

thx for the merger.

Thin green wire is an extension piece to the battery believe it or not, yes, it’ll get fixed.

red with yellow crimp is from the radio or maybe an old amp wire. Should have moved it out of the pic.

the bolted junction was taped up and took it off to see if the wiring was factory or not. Not sure what the previous owner was doing but the meter gets powered first then a wire is brought back to the junction then another black wire back to the fuse panel.

the ignition has to be tied into this somewhere but haven’t seen where.

not sure where the other wires off this unction go.

I guess aside from this weird arrangement my bigger issue is finding the 3A draw and why the accs fuse pops on contact.

 

Usually Amp meters are not wired though the ignition switch and should not carry any load. It's more like a differential indicator gauge that measures the difference between 2 points of the electrical system. Post a picture of your gauge, trace the wires and let us know what they are connected to.

 

Ok. Makes sense, will do.

 

An ammeter is connected inline so that it can measure current. Imagine if the meter was right there where the weird junction is - that would be the ideal place to "break" the main power wire and easily insert the meter inline with the power wire. Since you want to see the meter while driving, it is installed inside the vehicle, and therefore needs two new wires to be run from the meter to each end of the "break" in the main power wire.

 

kinda what I figured and what I remembered from circuits and is pretty much what it is.

so I might just be making up a problem thinking it should be wired different. Still need to find the current draw which is probly my only problem.

will see what I find out tonight.

 

Typically with a bench ammeter it is in series with the full load of a circuit, generally not with a car. Again, typically the gauge is state of charge/discharge meter with 0 being in the center and -(amps) on one end with + (amps) on the other. It is wired in parallel to the cars electrical system with both sides of the gauge having a positive connection.

 

I disagree with that description. The ammeter is wired in series with the positive feed, so that is shows the amount of current for everything except the starter.

 

What I remember from circuits class:

current in series is constant

voltage in parallel is constant.

my ammeter is wired in series with the main positive feed from my battery which feeds some portion of engine front harness and fuse panel

that’s all I got for now.

 

Your best option is to spring for a hard copy 1969 Olds Chassis Service Manual WHICH WILL HAVE THE CORRECT WIRING DIAGRAM IN IT. It will also show you how to properly connect the wiring at the junction block, how to route it in the car, and how to correct what previous owner(s) buggered up.

Not to mention it will be invaluable for any service operation you or anyone you hire attempt to do on this car.

 

Alright, alright,

Went through a couple iterations of thinking I fixed the issue. With my amp meter wired in I was thinking it was drawing too much current so I connected both lead onto one post of the meter and called it good. Tested for current draw and saw none so yup.

went to start it up this morn and nada. Checked current draw again and 2.6A with what I thought was key off. Turns out the ignition was pinned back enough to turn on what ever runs with key back of lock position, doh! Wired my amp meter back in and yep. The scale is 0-30A but you can barely see a slight shift with key on or back. Been a while since I’ve had an older car.

anyway, figured I’d get under dash to see what I’d find. I also noticed that the lighter drew enough current to pop the fuse so that got unplugged. The aftermarket radio was wired straight into the fuse panel so I pulled that out. The dash fan was wired through a toggle switch but the vents are installed so that came out. The connector that it was spliced into had melted so glad I did that. I’m guessing the fan speed selector quit so it was bypassed. I also found about 3 orange unterminated power on with ignition wires so I taped those up.

at some point I’ll have to fix the factory fan switch, get some vents and relocate and rewire the radio.

here’s some pics of the mess and I also found that the ‘assy pwr’ fuse pops instantly so I have to find what that powers and search for the short. I’ve done as much as I can do without tearing apart harnesses or a diagram, the manual is on order and on the way , btw.