I unplugged every circuit I touched and looked for loose frayed or open wire. Anything I could see that could cause problems I taped up with elec tape. Still have an open wire somewhere. This is frustrating. I don't drink, but I may have to now. I'm taking my truck to have a rearend put in tomorrow and will have them look at it. I call it quits after 4 hours getting nowhere.

 

Beleive me when i say that i understand, I think everybody here has been there and unerstands. Well good luck at the shop tomorrow. I used to shoot circuit trouble for a living, its hard enough when every thing is neat and nobody (POs) has buggerd things up, however the wireing on these wonderful old trucks, is seldome if ever pristeen. Nice attempt.

 

Is your truck still 6 volt positive ground?

How fast does the battery discharge? Do you have a dome light? If so, does the battery drain with the doors closed? Does you fuel gauge work? Do you have a glove box? Is your seat in the truck?

I realize these seem like unrelated questions, but there is a method to my madness.

Regarding the dome light/glove box/doors closed: I had a short in my dome light wiring which took my power to ground only when the doors were open. I had no bulb in the dome light, so the source of the problem was not obvious. Those wires run on top of the glove box, and over the right door, hence that question.

The wire from the gas tank sending unit to the gauge is going to provide a ground (almost) to one side of the gauge. But that wire also runs along the top of the right door, and could be bare and touching a bare spot on the dome light wiring. These wires run together on top of the glove box also.

With the seat in the truck, it's very hard to get a good look under the dash. If this is a '51, like your avatar says, your wiring is probably as rotten as mine. Most of the under dash wiring is bare or has bare spots. Since your problem started after you were moving things around under the dash, that is the most likely spot to find the short.

Also, where the old wire goes through the firewall can be a problem area as well. Do you have good wire coating and a good grommet at that point?

Lots of questions and no real answers. But I am just trying to help.

 

Are you sure it isn't just a crappy battery? Disconnect the ground cable tonight and see if it's dead in the morning.

 

Good idea Ross, could a stuck starter do this?