first of glad to find this community and hello. I own 2 gold dusters a 73 and a 74. I pulled my 73 out of the backyard and got it running again about six months ago well sort of. I sometimes have no electrical power. I can open the door and the dome light goes on then when i put my key in and start it nothing happens except I lose all electrical power. I cant find anyway to fix the problem because I dont know the cause. but after a few days I will go out to take a look and the dome light will come on again like it has power then the engine will fire and I will pull the light on and it dies.
The battery is new I swapped alternators and many ignition components with my other duster(parts car). I cannot find any bad fuses but I think it could be ground/shorts in the system. I am an average shade tree mechanic but electrical issues are the horrors of my life. If somebody could give advice or point me to a good site with instructions on how to test and diagnose a related issue it would be much appreciated.

and it is great to see a community for slant six engined cars. I thought that it would not be such a popular car, but am glad it has a deserved following.

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73 Gold Duster 225
74 Gold Duster 225

This kind of problem can be caused by internal wire strand breakage in the battery cable(s), poor connection (dirty, loose, corroded) at one or both ends of one or both battery cables, corrosion or loosening of the connections at any of the connections in the main feed circuit (check the two largest wires going into and out of the firewall connection centre, and check both ends of the fusible link). Another potential cause is a faulty battery or a bad ignition switch.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Checking connections would be a good start. An easy way to check for loose connections is to turn something on, like the parking lamps. Then wiggle battery terminals until you get some sparking action and the lights come on. If you follow the battery cables back to the engine/frame and starter you should be able to eliminate any loose/bad connections.

If you do find a loose connection, take the time to physically remove it and wire brush all contact areas. Also, make sure that the frame and engine are both grounded. Other forum members will be happy to tell you the exact location of body and engine grounds. These are all things that need to be checked and shouldn't take more than twenty minutes.