Wireing Harness

[wmauctions]

First I Have a 1976 W200 5/4 M880 Worth keeping and have problems with the electrical harness.quitting and then running quitting so on and so worth with no apperant reason. What other wireing harnesses will fit this BEAST,and thats what my wife calls it...LOL .it still hase the old military switches in the dash for the lights.People tell me to just swap out the harness for another one..??
What other years will fit my 1976..??

I just love this BEAST and would not part with.
Need HELP PLEASE..!!

Don

[KRB64]

I'm GUESSING that a 72-78 would be the same but this is just based on similarities and not on actual knowledge...

They're pretty simple. You could just start from scratch and make one yourself if you were inclined too. Be a good time to upgrade the volt meter etc.

[QuantumJo]

Be aware if the voltage meter is replaced do not leave the circuit open. If you do many things will not get juice, lights, starter ect...

[Deathdeelr]

A large problem I fixed with my beast was the fuseable links on the alternator and starter relay. They deteriorate and crumble inside leaving an intermittent connection that is difficult to find. I replaced both links and haven't been left on the shoulder since.

I'm going to be doing some major work to her soon and on the plate is the ammeter bypass/voltmeter install. From what I hear this is a big problem with these trucks also.

[74w300uteline]

fusable links

DD you may have just saved me a ton of aggrevation. never thought to check them for deterioration. Ive been having odd intermittent electrical problems.

[Deathdeelr]

Getting stuck at work wasn't too bad. I guess me crawling around under the hood moved something and she started. The last straw was having to flatbed her out of the ToysRUs customer pickup lot in Rockaway with my son's new power wheels in the back after five hours of starter fluid, new plugs, new battery in my wife's Jeep (too much jumping), and a lot of cursing. An old timer at the job suggested I check the fuseables. Sure enough there were two fuseable at the starter relay; one for the starter circuit, one for ignition that were bad.

Fast forward a year or so to last week. Ammeter starts showing a draw when running. Sure enough, not charging. First test, full field the alt; no change in voltage (12.1) so common sense, bad alt. In goes new alt, same thing, no charge. This time full field voltage is 17.9V. OK, battery voltage at the regulator so again common sense, oops must have blown the regulator with the new alternator. Replaced regulator and everything's fine...for one day. Turns out there's a fuseable on one of the field leads (green one). Replaced that and alls well in the charging dept.

I don't think longetivity was on the menu when the wiring was designed.

[Hawk]

If you wana go with a whole new harness look at Painless wire site, they do make a harness with the converted plugs to fit your beast. It is what I plan on using when I get to the rewiring of my 74 W200. It seems to be the best and closest to OEM that you can get with the upgraded wires to handle more of what Mother Nature hands out.

The other thing that I am looking at doing is building a water tight box to hold the clip area. This way I wont have to worry about so much green showing up over time without having to hit it with a wire brush, contact cleaner, and electrical goop.

This way you can also solve the alt meter short issue at the same time as rewiring, so that your dash wont start smoking or worse turn your truck into a fire place.

Only thing I am still at odds with is the Dizzy options. There are several that can be used for the 318 to 360 SB models. Leaning towards the Bullet alum high performance Mopar when the toy funds allow it. Down side is, outside of the Mopar markings, it does look almost a perfict match to the GM version for their 350.

[wmauctions]

Final Fix

Thanks to all for the info
The final fix was the ALT gague was BAD.!!

Don