So on the two new pickups I bought in 74 and 76 the connections corroded before the truck was even driven? I special ordered the76 and it was only built a few weeks before I took possession of it, the amp guage never worked in either one, and neither dealer would even address the problem. They just told me they were all like that.

 

I can't say 100% but I would speculate that the shunt connections were bad. They also could have had the idiot light harness in them and gage sets were installed so they would not work either. The wiring harness is different. The dealer could have applied some rather simple tests to find out what was wrong but most mechanics do not understand how to do them. I had several small problems like that with an 85 van that several options were missing in action on. I would not take delivery until they were fixed tho. Ford QC was the pits before the Japanese invaded. If it started and would move they would ship it.

As far as two trucks... You won the lottery!

 

The 74 was my first Ford and it was a total piece of crap, used a quart of oil every 200 miles from the day it was new and I fought for a year with the dealership and the week before the warranty ran out they said it wasn't bad enough to do anything about. I got real beligerant and they gave me the number of the regional service office in Denver and after being nasty with them too, I did get some kind of sloppy fix that helped for a few months. This whole truck was literally self destructing around me from the day it was new. The 76 was a little better but by the time it had 20,000 the engine needed rebuilt. Later on Ford voluntarily ponied up 1500 for that rebuild. Then I traded it off to my brother in law and got his 69 highboy in trade. That was the second best truck I ever owned and I have had a loyalty to the 67-72 models every since, the best trucks Ford ever built. I had a few other new Fords and all were disappointing except an E-100 Econoline with a 300-6 and it was a great vehicle. ( the ampmeter never worked in it either )

 

The ammeter works in my 79 and also in my 85.

Ford tore down my steering column in the 85 half a dozen times and could find no problem. The last time it was down I inspected the parts and found the problem, a bearing ground off center in about two minutes. The bearing was replaced and it worked fine thereafter.

I also had the tranny (AOD) torn down 4 times after a fluid change that would leave it shifting into two gears at the same time locking up the drivetrain at highway speeds. The problem was common but Ford wouldn't admit it. A problem with the valve body. If it was filled under pressure thru the cooling lines like at the factory they were OK. If you filled them thru the fill tube they would act up in various ways. Some went like mine, others went into lala land in the middle of intersections...

My van also rusted thru in 6 months, a paint shop problem that Ford would never fix.

The drivers seat wouldn't sit straight due to a rubber bumper misinstalled. I fixed that one in the dealers lot after they screwed with the seat twice. It took me all of 10 minutes, most of that was returning the bushing to the parts dept and getting another one. I didn't even use tools.

The heater hose connections leaked AF onto the ignition system and it ran like crap in moist weather until I forced them to replace the wires, cap, and E-coil.

It also had the infamous TFI ignition module problem that it was in the shop half a dozen times with "no trouble found". I fixed that one by returning the engine to the Duraspark system and disconnected the computer. I upped the mileage 3 mpg also... The engine ran great up until the end.

It also lost a couple of those stupid AC line seals every year. Now that was a DUMB design! ANY Hydraulic engineer or O-ring engineer could have told them that wouldn't work, -but some bigwig at Ford pushed it thru the design dept and probably got a big promotion. If they had only made that groove big enuf to take a teflon backup ring it would have been OK but that wiould have cost another $0.005 cents and the backup ring would have cost $0.05! -grrrr

And these are the problems AFTER the initial delivery problems of parts missing!

BTW- It was a monday-Friday vehicle It ran for 18 years tho b4 the tranny went again.

You aren't the only one that has had lemons.

 

That's because ALL the charging current was going through your ammeter instead of 99% of it through the shunt. There is an inline fuse in each lead to the ammeter to protect it just in case the fuse link in the main "batt" wire opens up.

I think there are two problems with these ammeter circuits. One is corrosion causes voltage drops in the connections and both inline fuses which reduces the voltage potential across the meter. Second, there never was enough voltage drop across the shunt to do the job right in the first place. I've heard of one guy pulling strands out of his shunt so it would develop a larger voltage drop. Or maybe you could rewind the ammeter windings with finer gauge wire to make it more sensitive.