Maserati indy ammeter

[gordon-walton]

Hi all. The two 90 strand black wires going to and from the ammeter have sizzled and melted each side of the ammeter for about 40 mm. What would cause this and can i simply reconnect the wires and bypass the ammeter. The car started first time after some steering repairs . I switched off and found the dashboard dead when i came to restart. After some investigation i found the melted wires.   My wiring diagram is not clear on the circuit.

Thanks, Gordon Walton

[profchristopher-green]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1exXYzrwKDwjurxapRlvrwpo42qSAA6vN/view

wiring diagram Ammeter is numbered as item 57 and has black wires this is a pretty clear diagram you can prob download.

Sorry cant help with the melting

[Graham Wood]

FYI Gordon, there are wiring diagrams in the ‘Resources’ section on the website as well (in fact the same as in the link Chris has provided).

[gordon-walton]

Hi, thanks for your responses.  I joined the wires( minus the ammeter) and everything runs as it should. Just got to find an ammeter now that matches and at a reasonable cost.

Are there others in the club who repair/maintain their older cars and if so where are they?

I’m at the moment trying to sort out a leaking water pump with a replacement seal kit which doesn’t seem to work. Has anyone else been down this road?

[thomas-weller]

It sounds like you have a short circuit somewhere in the electrical system. It is very unlikely that the ammeter is the source of the problem. Those two black wires carry ALL the electrical power to the car with the exception of the starter. My guess is that somewhere among the wiring is a circuit that has burned out so that the faulty circuit is no longer a problem, explaining why the car works with the ammeter bypassed. The ammeter may well have burned out having been overloaded. So, do you have some piece of the electrical system not working, that will be the problem. I have owned an Indy for 35 years and, touch wood, they are pretty simple in the electrical department.

[gordon-walton]

Hi, thanks for your responses. I’ve replaced the ammeter with a new one but used the original face/ dial, glass and surround to match the original and all seems well. It seems odd that the only frazzled wire was 40 mm each side of the ammeter.

The web shows that there are about 22 Indy’s registered in the UK. Do we know how many there are in the club and am I the only one doing hands on repair/ maintenance.

(There’s a nice looking Ghibli on US Barnfinds , colour Rame, anyone interested?)

[Keith Davies]

Gordon, I can account for at least 10 members of our Club that own Indy’s however there are only 4 who allow their vehicles to be shown in the Directory.  Some of these do their own maintenance where possible but some, like me cannot limbo under the dashboard anymore without your glasses falling off and then taking another 10 minutes to limbo out! to find your glasses.  Of the Indy owners there is a wide range from the early 4.2’s up to the last 4.9 with most of them being 4.7’s.  Also a variety of left- and right-hand drive.  I have no idea why your Ammeter wires cooked up but Thomas seems to have the most plausible response as all the auxilliary current flows through the Ammeter, unless somehow a connection on the Ammeter somehow touched down on an earthed point – that would certainly cook all the wires.  The terminals should be both tight and insulated.

Cheers  –  Keith

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