Hi everyone, I have two vehicles that have come up with this same problem.

The first is my car, had a bad short on my exhaust and fried the ignition wire all the way back to the steering column. I've replaced it and repaired any of the other wires that got fried, but now I have no dash lights, parking lights (rear only, fronts work), and no dome light via the switch when the doors are closed. Are these all on the same circuit, and where would you look first (missing ground, power from fuse block)?

The other is my truck, it likes to blow the fuse for all these same lights after only five minutes of using them. I'm pretty sure this must be a shorting problem, am I right?

Kinda stinks, can't drive at night now!

Thanks all!

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70 Impala Sport Coupe (350)
67 Chevelle (I wish, still looking and saving)
http://www.geocities.com/ledsled_26m

What kind of vehicles ?

First car sounds like blown taillight fuse which you are calling rear parking lights I think http://www.chevelles.com/forum/confused.gif
the dash light fuse is supplied power from the load side of the tail light fuse so that the dash lights "out" aleart you when the tail light circuit is dead


The tail lights should have nothing to do with the dome light as it has constant power and it's ground is completed by the jam switches or the dimmer in the head light switch


Sounds like there is a short in the wiring on the truck



[This message has been edited by Dean (edited 06-02-2002).]

It's my 1970 Impala I'm most concerned about. This was my first time disassembling/assembling a dashboard, and I was afraid I might have missed a ground somewhere around the light switch. If this was the case, might this be the problem? The headlights work, just not the dome light (with switch, works with doors), nor do the instrument panel lights or taillights.

All of the fuses looked fine...I'll have to pull them out and run a ohmmeter across them.

Thanks for the help so far!

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70 Impala Sport Coupe (350)
67 Chevelle (I wish, still looking and saving)
http://www.geocities.com/ledsled_26m

All the fuses are good. I grounded the instrument panel lights and they lit, so I found the problem there. Still no taillights, tho!

I don't know why, but the dome light started to work again. I had fiddled with the headlight switch, so there may have been a loose connection.

Where to look next? Do Chevies have a general color wire that come out of the headlamp switch that powers the taillights? If I knew what color is was, then I could check for power coming out of the switch.

HELP! http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif

Every receptacle on the fuse block has 12v when the ignition is on.

It seems the deeper I dig to figure this out, the worse it gets!

I hooked the ground up to the instrument panel, the dash lights worked correctly...but now when I have my headlights on, both directional bulbs (in the dash) light, and when the blinker is engaged, the directional bulbs flash, and the instrument panel lights dim.

UGH!

These are two seperate circuits, right? Or do they both run through the headlamp switch? Everything seems to point to the headlamp switch.

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70 Impala Sport Coupe (350)
67 Chevelle (I wish, still looking and saving)
http://www.geocities.com/ledsled_26m

Dean disappeared and got busy. I'll lend him a hand.
It's great you are posting all the problems, but time to fall back. Look at one thing at a time. Start with the original problem, the rear running lights. It's also the simpliest circuit.
1, Pull the headlights on and see if you have 12 volts on the brown wire on either the right or left rear light. Take this measurement to a good clean frame ground.
2, If you do have 12 volts, measure the brown wire to the socket ground. If you don't see 12 volts, problem is a bad ground in the rear.
3, If you don't have 12 volts in (1), pull the headlight switch. Measure the brown wire coming out of the switch. The wires you need to take a look at are:
Orange Input 12 volts, feeds brown and green.
Brown Output to running lights
Green Output from the dimmer, runs dash lights.
Should get you an idea on why the running lights aren't working. Move on after you fix those. You may find the other answers along the way.

EXACTLY the information I needed, John, thanks a ton!

Any idea why a distributor would put out NO spark until you release the key? I can crank and crank all day, and it won't start, but the second I realease the key, it either starts or backfires. Not sure if this is related to my current electrical woes, but it did just start since I had the dash apart.

I start thinking I know my car inside out, and then something new pops up to bring me down to reality.

Thanks all! TC is the greatest, even to a Chevy lover who doesn't have his 1st Chevelle yet.

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70 Impala Sport Coupe (350)
67 Chevelle (I wish, still looking and saving)
http://www.geocities.com/ledsled_26m

Yank the center wire out of the coil so it doesn't start with your nose in there. Measure between coil + and ground as someone turns the key. See if the coil has 12 volts in the start position. Solenoid ? Broken yellow wire from the solenoid to the coil?

Yeah, I had always thought this was a points-style distributor problem, where there was a broken/missing wire from the starter to the coil.

This is HEI.

?????

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70 Impala Sport Coupe (350)
67 Chevelle (I wish, still looking and saving)
http://www.geocities.com/ledsled_26m

Use the same test as I mentioned above but pull the hot lead off the HEI so the car won't start. Measure that lead to ground.
Do you have the HEI B+ (12 volt) wire plugged into the fuse block? It may be plugged into the wrong terminal. You need one that has 12 volts in both the start and run position.
Fix one problem at a time or you will make yourself crazy trying to fix it all at once.

I was thinking and thinking about it...and I figured out what was causing this whole batch of problems.

When the ignition wire got fried, it melted the fuse block both on the engine side and the drivers' compartment side, all around where the electrical connector for the ignition wire is. This was causing it to short out on adjacent wires, and I think that the wires for the taillights were not making a good connection.

Thanks for pointing me on the right track, tho!

I'll repost if, and when, I get it all squared away.



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70 Impala Sport Coupe (350)
67 Chevelle (I wish, still looking and saving)
http://www.geocities.com/ledsled_26m

All fixed!

Knowing which color wires to look for lead me to a loose brown wire under the dash. It must have gotten accidentally cut when I took the dash out the first time.

Thanks a ton!

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70 Impala Sport Coupe (350)
67 Chevelle (I wish, still looking and saving)
http://www.geocities.com/ledsled_26m