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1994 wire to power distribution on firewall

J

jrsavoie

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Location
Rural Clifton, Illinois
1994 K3500 crew cab Single rear wheels, NV4500

What is the proper routing and wire size going to the power distribution lugs on the right/passenger firewall on a 1994 K3500?

I pulled the inner fender to investigate a fuel &/or oil leak and replace the starter.
A while back I had a guy remove the starter.
I noticed there was a wire coming off the power wire going to the starter.
I haven't traced it yet.
That seems abnormal to me.

The wire from the battery to the starter doesn't appear to be factory, but does seem to have a factory end on it, going to the starter.
Also in that end, on the starter end there's a wire coming out and going somewhere. - without having looked, I'm guessing, to the power distribution lugs.
Any thoughts?
 
Can you tell if the extra wire has a built in from factory fusible link there at the starter? the power distro block would be my first guess, but I would be inclined to re-route that to come straight off the battery with a heavy circuit breaker. I hate having to get down there to the starter over a blown fusible link!
 
dbrannon79 said:
Can you tell if the extra wire has a built in from factory fusible link there at the starter? the power distro block would be my first guess, but I would be inclined to re-route that to come straight off the battery with a heavy circuit breaker. I hate having to get down there to the starter over a blown fusible link!
Click to expand...
Rerouting to the battery was my first thought.
First I have to determine exactly where it goes.
I was also curious which battery it was supposed to be attached to
 
I would run it from the drivers side battery only because the passenger side supplies the brunt of the juice for the starter and these diesels need all they can get for cranking power. if your under hood fuse box is like mine that has two extra aux power studs on the back side. there are two MAXI fuse spots in it, one for each stud. run off one of those studs for power to the distro block and install an 60-80 amp fuse in the blank.

I don't know if the 94 had that same style of fuse box on the drivers side like my 95 does. but then again my 95 doesn't have a distro block on the firewall ether. I thing 94 was the last year they used that block on the firewall.
 
That is something I need to do on mine going into the main fuse box under the hood! unless it's the main power lead that's to the dash fuse box. my battery gauge will start to drop some when the blower is running. it's enough that if I have the heat on and do the remote start thing. it will run for about 5 minutes and then shut off. the alarm box shuts the truck down when it senses low voltage thinking the alternator isn't charging.

many times I have started it with the remote and then hopped in and seen the volt gauge go up as soon as I turn the key to the run position!
 
at least GM didn't do like what you find nowadays with wire sizes! everything made in China they seem to "guess" on what AWG sizes are and it always ends up with what looks like the right size until you cut into the wire and find thick insulation with little to no actual copper!

I did that getting some power wire for a stereo amp that was supposed to be 6 awg but when I cut into it and stripped one end it looked more like a 8 or 10 with a thick covering and super flimsy!
 
dbrannon79 said:
Can you tell if the extra wire has a built in from factory fusible link there at the starter? the power distro block would be my first guess, but I would be inclined to re-route that to come straight off the battery with a heavy circuit breaker. I hate having to get down there to the starter over a blown fusible link!
Click to expand...
Do you have a circuit breaker you would recommend?

The last one I bought was crap and fell apart.
 
Circuit breaker for the main power supply to the distro block? I would say go with a 50 or 60A. iirc all the electric runs off that block including the blower in the cab from the block as a power source, of course it runs through the fuse box between the block and the item pulling the power.

This is what I have in my truck running power to my stereo amp which I have piggybacked into it to supply power to other items in the cab too. ( this seller is no longer showing the ability to choose what amp you can order )


But even better for the price I would say this one being waterproof would be much better.

 
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