all of my dash lights stay on when the key is completely backed off but not in the acc. position. the battery is charging right now because the headlights were left on last night and the battery went dead. it's a seventy two with a 350 and a three wire alternator. can the dead battery have anything to do with the lights staying on. could the lights running have fused something. I have also manually taken out the ignition switch and checked the gears inside the column. any ideas ?????

Your lights should work regardless of where your key is set; they are not on a circuit controlled by the key. Are you saying that your dash lights are on when the lights are off, or are you expecting them to turn off with the key?

my dash lights are on ... not the headlights. they are on when the key is off.

It the headlight switch pushed all the way in? Does rotating the headlight switch change the brightness? Strange problem. I haven’t seen a headlight switch go bad this way. The thing I would try next is: Pull the dash lamp fuse. It’s the short fuse on the bottom center of the fuse block. When you pull that fuse the dash lights should go off.

Do you have any aftermarket electrical accessories that you have added lately? I'm grasping at straws here, but a possible scenario would be if an aftermarket stereo was added, and an always-hot line (for retaining presets and clock) got tied to an existing dash lamp circuit.
It's often that recent work performed on a car is the cause of a new problem, so if you recently added gauges or stereo or anything electrical, check there first.

zero new work...well door panels...hope i didn't wire those up wrong j/k. nope no new work.

Removed the dash fuse as suggested? Results?

pulled fuse today...results...gremlin!!! when i pulled the fuse the lights went out on the dash. When i turn the key to the on position the lights came on the dash !?!?!?!? no clue guys. electrical is not my forte.

Is this a 72 with a regular sweep dash? An idiot light car and not a gage car?

yes...idiot lights.

also a 72 malibu

Interesting. Not seen this happen before. I assume we are talking about the lights behind the speedometer are coming on. If so:
Remove the dash pad. It is held on by 6 screws. 2 are behind the glove box door. It helps to push down on the brake and put the trans shifter into the lowest gear so you can get the pad past it.
The left (drivers side) speedometer light bulb has a grey wire on it. That socket quarter turns into the circuit board. This is the power or feed light for all the dash lights.
Remove this light bulb from the cicuit board. Reinstall the small dash light fuse. See how every thing works again.
This light should only come on with the headlight switch. It should not come on with the key swich on and the headlight switch off. The other lamps, in the circuit board, should not come on at all.

The lights that i am speaking of are the brake and gen light. Those were the only lights that were working to begin with when this problem happened.

Hmmmm, those aren't dash lights. Those are a couple of the idiot lights. Try pulling the connector out of the alternator and see if that shuts both off when you turn the key on.
Gone until the morning. Time for a beer.

now a new problem has developed...the key will not shut the engine off...it will start it but not turn it off. I have already tried taking the ign. switch out and reversing the ignition manually but to no success. could these things be connected?

Do you have a MSD box in the car? Have you pulled the alternator connector plug out and checked if the idiot lights go out.
Doubt the problem has anything to do with the ignition switch or the column.

when alternator is connected the dummy lights stay on in the keys off position and dim slightly in the accessories position. when i disconnected the white and blue wire to the alternator there were the same results.

also no msd aftermarket products like msd

a, when alternator is connected the dummy lights stay on in the keys off position

b, dim slightly in the accessories position.

c, disconnected the white and blue wire to the alternator there were the same results.

*Scratches Head*
Can't be the ignition switch because those lights don't get power in OFF or ACC.
Pull the connector off the voltage regulator and see what happens. On a 72 you will have to remove that round vapor canister on the left side of the radiator to get at it.
There might be another problem in the brake light circuit but let's see if that keeps the GEN light from coming on.

as I can only read whats being said ... & can't check it out myself .. I'll venture to say you have a short in the dash wiring harness ... melted hot lead to the light circuts that woun't turn off ... & in last post you said car woundn't turn off... its getting worse..find someone who can help you .... in mean time disconect battery when your not trying to find problem

Originally posted by 68KMENO:
as I can only read whats being said ... & can't check it out myself .. I'll venture to say you have a short in the dash wiring harness ... melted hot lead to the light circuts that woun't turn off ... & in last post you said car woundn't turn off... its getting worse..find someone who can help you .... in mean time disconect battery when your not trying to find problem Yeah this "net fixing" stuff can be tough. Had local guys over here more than once because it's a whole lot easier in person. Taking off for a couple of days so maybe you can toss out more input if you have time.
To let you know where I was heading once we got to talking about the idiot lights and not the dash lights.
Those two lights are tied together on a line out of the ignition switch. On that line is + for the other idiot lights, the fuel gage and power for coil +.
If that line was shorted to another 12 volt line, I would expect to see GEN and OIL on. The OIL light is always grounded when the car isn't running.
Thinking is that since GEN is on, that light is getting 12 volts, not from the pink line off the ignition but from the alternator field lead because OIL is off. Trying to prove/disprove that by yanking connectors.
BRAKE looks like it's providing the ground. Tied to GEN via the pink wire causing both lights to come on. If the pink + lead was shorted to another source, BRAKE should not come on. Maybe pull the e-brake ground wire off and the lead to the porportioning valve off to disprove that idea. Just guessing around.
Later

question...... was Oil lite working before ?? I've reread post & it said gen & brake lites were all that was working before problem... if thats is the case then you've got a short to the pink from ing hot....as that would power up lites & give dist power ....or so my computer internet testing skills think ... this repair by remote control is not as easy as in person.. my hats off to John graemlins/thumbsup.gif

ok guys...just to be fair i will give you the full run down. The only lights that worked on the chevelle in the first place were all exteriors, one speedo light, the gen light, high beam light, and the brake light stayed on all of the time. now... to get back to my original problem...I disconnected the v. regulator today. only the gen light went out and not the brake.

ok.... lets see.. disconecting volt reg turned off the gen lite BUT the brake lite is still on .. always has been .. the oil lite doesn't work never did ...hook back up the reg wires & unhook the wire for the emergency brake wire its down by the fusebox its tan hooks up to a triger switch hooked to the ebrake pedal its all alone single wire also lets unhook the brake fluid safety switch .. its down on frame by the oil filter same story its tan single wire hooked into the proporatin block mounted on frame

lets look one more place also before jumping into the harness... the Ing switch box on top of the steering collem you've been playing with .. I've reread the post .. you said you had moved the switch .. gen lite should come on when the key is in acc pos or on with motor off.. the brake lite is on more then likly becouse of safty switch on frame not being centered..if car is staying on becouse the ing switch is not in proper position then the lites will STAY ON as the key isn't turning the switch off.....

hummmmmmmm guess he found the problem :confused: or he got stuck under the dash ;)

Originally posted by 68KMENO:
hummmmmmmm guess he found the problem :confused: or he got stuck under the dash ;) Naaa, next thing about Net fixing is half the time you don't know if your guesses were right. Sounds like the pink line is staying hot.
EDIT
Maybe OIL is burnt out.

nope guys...didn't get stuck. I just am not sure about how to go about checking out my ignition. I have never done any of that work before. This is my first chevelle and first real car overall. I am only nineteen and i had an 87 vw jetta before this 72 malibu. I have put about 3000 dollars into the car thus far and it is starting to pay off. I have been able to do a lot by myself. I put a wiring harness in from scratch and do the entire enterior. now that those creature conforts are done i am starting to kill off my gremlins...so back to the point. I don't know ignitions.

It really helps sometimes to add as much information up front as possible. It now does sound like the ignition switch or the mechanism that moves it. To prove this:
Disconnect the connector of the voltage regulator.
Disconnect the wires off coil (+).
Measure the coil (+) wire with a meter to ground. You should have 12 volts in the ON position but 0 volts in OFF or ACC.
If you have 12 volts in OFF, check the ignition switch rod to see if it is moving. Check the ignition switch pink wire for 0 volts in the OFF position.

I think your doing a great job trying to fix your car :D it takes time & courage to undertake these kinds of projects ... if you don't allready have the shop & assembly manuals for your car buy them as they're full of good info graemlins/thumbsup.gif I'm glade Johns back as he's anwcers make much easier reading then mine graemlins/clonk.gif hands on I do fine .. but trying to type it out here On the puter .... so someone else can understand it I leave a lot to be desired :rolleyes:

Originally posted by 68KMENO:
I think your doing a great job trying to fix your car :D it takes time & courage to undertake these kinds of projects ... if you don't allready have the shop & assembly manuals for your car buy them as they're full of good info graemlins/thumbsup.gif I'm glade Johns back as he's anwcers make much easier reading then mine graemlins/clonk.gif hands on I do fine .. but trying to type it out here On the puter .... so someone else can understand it I leave a lot to be desired :rolleyes: Same problem I had about 3 years ago. I found it a lot easier to type most answers somewhat the way an instruction manual is written. (or should be written if the author wasn’t hung over.)
1, The first thing to do.
2, The second thing to try.
3, The third step along the way.

A, B, C also works but when it’s written, the first thing to do, the second thing to try, the third step along the way, it’s harder to read especially since some guys have difficulty using a meter.

I don't have a coil in my car john... i have h.e.i. distribution. How would i check now?

Originally posted by ratmriot:
I don't have a coil in my car john... i have h.e.i. distribution. How would i check now? The plot thickens. Same thing. Pull the wire off the HEI B+ terminal and measure that in the ignition OFF position. Any idea where the HEI is getting power from? In "net land" can't see the modifications from the stock wiring.

Maybe the yellow wire on the starter solenoid (the little one away from the block) is shorting on the positive battery cable, and back feeding the ignition circuit.

Originally posted by DanD:
Maybe the yellow wire on the starter solenoid (the little one away from the block) is shorting on the positive battery cable, and back feeding the ignition circuit. good idea :D see it pays to have more people lookin at problem as everyone see's things a little bit different.... along same line of thought ... the wires that run to the starter down behind the block ..red purple yellow .. they all run thu that little heat sheild tube next to exst manifold ... where I've seen them melt many times..

Found the problem this weekend!!! red wire on battery was touching r post on starter. It was causing both power to dash and to distributor. thanx for all of the help techies. keep you posted on the chevelle.